


sipping coffee

by megamegaturtle



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Drabble Series, F/M, Fluff, Gen, and lots of MariChat lately lol, everything
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2018-05-01 01:25:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 38
Words: 26,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5186936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megamegaturtle/pseuds/megamegaturtle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Love Square drabble series. Just long enough for you to take a few sips of coffee, but gives you feels to last you the whole day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. her charm

It’s a day like any other Adrien supposes, his father too busy and the staff impersonal as he was whisked off to school in the white limo. Things at school began no differently either, with Nino making him laugh and Chole–bless her–being slightly too forward again. But the day comes to a screeching halt, the world stopping in one motion, an hour after the bell rang, with Marianne entering the classroom holding a little black cat..

All eyes turn to her, the sound of the door opening far more interesting than the lecture. Adrian is just as curious (no pun intended out of uniform) as he stares at the bundle in her arms. Their eyes lock briefly and he can see Marinette freeze up, her smile sheepish and her words rushed as she answers the teacher. 

“He was all alone and crying!” 

But the class goes in an uproar when the kitten mews, peeking open wide green eyes to stare at all the faces. The teacher calls for an early break as the classmate surround Marinette as she moves to her desk and Adrien can’t help but join as he turns around.

The kitten stands up on wobbly legs, soaking in the many faces before stumbling towards Marinette, ears pressed to his head. 

“Where did you find him?” Alya asks, her face propped in her hands as she stares affectionately at the creature. 

A small smile graces Marinette’s lips as she gentle scratches the tuff under the kitty’s chin. “On my way to school. He was caught in a tree really.” 

“And where was his mom?” Nino questions, offering a hand for the cat to sniff.

But the girl who sits behind him shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know–that’s why I was so late, I tried looking, but there was no other cats around.” 

 _That’s really Ladybug of her_ , Adrien thinks, his heart beating slightly faster when he thinks of his crush. 

“That was really sweet of you to look–you know–Marinette,” he tells her and its like she just realized he is sitting right there as for her face goes bright red. 

“Th-” she starts, but she takes a deep breath, “Thank you, but it was the least I could do.” And as she looks fondly at the kitten, her face changes to an whimsical expression. “I kinda have a soft spot for black cats,” she admits softly.

That is something he didn’t know and he was about to say something when Chole’s voice rings loud in clear from across the way.

“Why? Black cats only bring death and misfortune,” she spits. “Bad luck,” she stresses before chatting back with Sabrina. 

Her words strike a chord with him, one he doesn’t like thinking about because that’s what he is in the end: a black cat. And what does that mean with his relationship with Ladybug, is he just a bad omen waiting to happen?

Yet the thoughts don’t swirl to long in his head and his doesn’t remain in turmoil as Marinette speaks again, the glint in her eye fierce–reminding him of someone he knows too well. 

“I don’t know about that,” she says as she cuddles a sleepy kitten in her arms, “I think Chat Noir is a good luck charm for Ladybug.” 

He wasn’t excepting her to say that and he can’t stop the next words tumbling out of his mouth. “Why do you say that?”

And for the first time that Adrien has known Marinette, she doesn’t stammer when she answers him, her voice even and eyes sure of what she says. “Because without Chat Noir, there would be no Ladybug.” 

His heart skips a beat as he considers that possibility. 

 _Maybe she does need me_. 


	2. symphony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basorexia - An overwhelming desire to kiss.

It is the suddenness of the moment that scares her, makes her heart beat fast and her tongue tied. She doesn’t know when she began to feel this way–her head light and her heart filled with affection–for her black cladded partner, but now as she watches him speak, perfect pink lips saying her name, she feels faint.

“Ladybug?” he questions, worry painting his features. 

But  Ladybug doesn’t hear him though, her blue eyes so focused on his mouth.  She never knew music could be found in a ways without sound, but watching Chat Noir begin her name with the tip of his tongue on the bottom of his front teeth to finish it with the slight pop of his lips is a symphony. 

He takes a step closer, concern shining from his green eyes and hand outstretched to check if she has a fever. “Ladybug?” 

And there it is again, her name falling from his lips like a magic spell, flooding her with desire to just close the space between them. It would be easy, she knows, her toes tingling, signaling her that all she would have to do is take one step. Then all she would have to do is lift her head and kiss him.

She almost gives in, let’s the moment of insanity continue, this second where she doesn’t think, but only feels. Yet she can’t, her feet abruptly glued to the floor when  _different_  shiny blonde hair and sweet green eyes flash through her mind. The far off whisper of  _Adrien_  echoes through her mind and her blood runs cold, shame sweeping away crazed want. 

She takes a step back, his fingers barely skimming across her forehead. She takes a small intake of breath, but she ignores the electricity that makes her hairs stand on end, pleading to just go back to feeling, not thinking. Ladybug swallows, her mouth dries as she tries to smile, tries to shake away whatever just happened. The question rests in his mouth and she prays he doesn’t ask. 

Tucking a hair behind her ear, she turns away, hoping that he can’t hear the thudding of her heart. “Sorry, Chat. I’m fine.” 

Deep down, she knows it’s a lie. 

But what is she supposed to do when her feelings begin to split in two?


	3. fruit trees & cobblestones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baisemain - A kiss on the hand.

Things are still new between them, fresh and sweet, as they walk down a sleepy street with Marinette as his guide.  _It’s a surprise, just follow me, Kitty Cat_. Around them are small boutiques, filled with knickknacks and things, music flowing in and out as they pass them. It is the small gust that picks up, rustling the big fat green leaves above that makes Adrien notice the tickling on his palm.

He looks down at their clasped hands, missing the words to a story, when he sees a new charm on Marinette’s bracelet. He doesn’t mean to interrupt her, but the question is out of his mouth, curiosity getting the better of him when he tugs her to stop. “Did you get a new charm?”

It is only one moment that she’s confused, only giving him a slight hum for his innocent query when she notices his line of sight. She giggles softly, the sound slipping from her lips as he carefully examines her wrist and twists it side to side. She points to one he has never seen before, a bow with a red stone dangling from its chain.

He’s never noticed how fascinating fingers could be, the tips slightly calloused and the nails cut short.  For extra emphasis, she taps it square on the glittering gem and happily says, “I got this one just yesterday with Alya.” As an afterthought, she bashfully admits, “I thought it was really cute.”

Though he isn’t in his suit and mask, ready to fight an enemy at a moment’s notice, Chat slips through and affectionately rubs her hand with his. “It is,” he affirms, appreciating how she likes it. “But it is not as cute as you, Princess.”

He tries to bring her hand to his lips, but Marinette steals it away, shaking her head as if to scold him, but he can see her hidden grin. She cheerfully quickens her pace and ducks into a small alley, her skipping steps echoing down the cobblestone road. She doesn’t need to look at him, her voice loud and lighthearted. “You’re like this out of uniform too?” With an melodramatic sigh, she teases, “Just what am I going to do with you?”

For a second, he takes her seriously, his heart hammering in his chest. But she looks over her shoulder, her blue eyes dancing with jest and swells of anxiety disappear. He takes one, two, three long steps until he’s right by her side and both are in step again.

“I guess if you have to,” he starts, a smirk gracing his lips, “you can do anything you’d like to do with me, my lady.”

Marinette’s eyes widen, her cheeks tinging pink before she gives him a playful push and takes his hand in hers. “C’mon, we’re almost there.”

Laughter pours out of them as they enter a line of trees, sunlight shining down, glistening as it is reflected off a small pool of water and the sight snathces Adrien’s breath. Slowly, their footsteps crunch on fallen leaves and small twigs, the air aromatic with wet dirt and citrus. Insect wings flutter and whir as the big city melts away.

“Where are we?” he finally breathes, almost wanting to double check if the alley is still behind them.

Marinette grabs his hand, comfortable and relaxed in this rural space. “This is the grove my family gets our fruit from for the bakery. I like to come here sometimes and sketch or get away from things.”

Adrien turns his attention to her to see her smiling at him. _It’s a Ladybug smile and _a_  Marinette smile_, he thinks, her grin proud, but sweet.  _It’s all her wrapped into one._  He stares for a brief moment before smiling himself, warmth spreading through him like sunshine. “I like it.”

“Good,” she affirms, fondness beaming from her.

Pressing a quick kiss to his hand, fast and brief, she pulls him to follow, to show him her favorite path amongst the trees.

With his hand in hers, Adrien is exactly where he needs to be. 


	4. don't tap the glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mamihlapinatapei - The look between two people in which each loves the other but is too afraid to make the first move. 
> 
> Please don’t tap the glass. Eyes are windows to the soul and the glass is very fragile.

He didn’t mean to stare. He doesn’t mean to stare even now, but it’s hard to pull his gaze away when Marinette’s bright blue eyes are fixated upon him. Even though Adrien is a few feet away, a few stairs down on the school’s stony steps, he can hear her small gasp. With one breath, she’s stolen all the air and he’s finding it hard to breathe, desperately needing oxygen of his own, but remembering now is not a priority. As he looks up at her, Marinette chews on her bottom lip, worrying at it so fiercely he’s afraid she might start to bleed.

But, for some reason, he can’t let go, caught in the trance of watching pink stain her cheeks. There are no words he can say as the world drifts away, entangled in this moment he doesn’t quite understand.

_Why are you looking at me?_

However, as soon as he starts to tap on the window of her soul, seeking out questions he doesn’t know quite yet, Nino claps a hand on his shoulder. The action shatters whatever moment was between them as Adrien turns around.  

“Ready to go, dude?” Nino says, his cheerfulness ignorant to what happened.

In a blink of a moment, it’s like the world has started moving again, continuing forward as it has intended for all of eternity. Breathing is just easy he remembers, in and out, out and in.

“Adrien, dude?”

Adrien blinks again, his friend coming into focus and he nods his head. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just give me a second, yeah?”

Yet as he turns back around towards Marinette, searching for answers he now needs to hear, she’s gone from her place on the steps.

A small part of him has never felt so hollow.

And the larger part of him has no idea why.

* * *

She didn’t mean to get this close, but she is and she is able to count every single golden freckle in his green eyes. Does Chat know that his green eyes are so electric, so vibrant and alive? Their noses are almost touching and his eyes are looking directly into hers and she has never felt more on fire.

Neither one of them dares take a breath and she can smell icy mint coming from his lips. Yet she cannot feel cool under his gaze, burning and smoldering, as his eyes sing her praise. As her heart races against her ribs, this is the first time Ladybug–no, Marinette–realizes that Chat is more than just her partner, he is also a boy.

And she is also a girl.

And sometimes boys and girls get caught in moments when they both realize that they can have relationships that are not made by the mind, but built by the body.

As she swallows, hard and deep, out of the corner of her eye, she can see a black gloved hand go to lightly caress the swell of her cheek. Even through leather gloves, she can still feel the warmth of his touch, the back of his fingers searing a trail on her skin. Her hands twitch at her sides, they want to trace his path with their own pads, but she digs her nails into her palms as a reminder not to lose sight.

_What does that even mean anymore?_

But it is Chat who moves away first, the mismatched beeping of their stones becoming louder in the night, as he takes careful steps to the edge of the building. He never breaks eye contact with her though, his green eyes piercing into hers. Each step he takes to widen the distance between them twists her heart into a way she can’t explain (and she doesn’t even want to).

With a small quirk of his lips, he salutes her before turning around, releasing her from his hold. As she stares at the expanse of his back, she hears him say, “Good night, my Lady.”

He then jumps off the building and disappears from view without waiting for a reply. It is only then Marinette slowly brings a hand to her face to finally follow the path his fingers made as her knees sink to the floor.   

* * *

It is a late night in Paris, the world asleep save two teenagers who are hopelessly in love with people who just started noticing at them. And who, as two teenagers, began noticing someone else besides their heart’s desire.

Yet as each close their eyes, they fall into sleep where dreams are made from blue and green eyes, making their heartbeat faster for not the one they thought they wanted, but for the one they are starting to consider.

For eyes are the windows to the soul, but the glass happens to be quite fragile. But when we are told not to touch– _be careful, that might break!_ –it makes us want to knock a little harder.  


	5. reading between the lines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sometimes people say things that have a double meaning

Spring is ending, heat intensifying as summer slips closer. Bees buzz and hum as they skip between flowers, grabbing pollen to make honey back in the hive. Butterflies drink nectar that gathers on fat petals, fluttering bright wings against the Paris skyline. 

Yet today Marinette finds it difficult to give Mother Nature her full attention, her focus solely on Adrien as he wears the scarf she made draped around his shoulders.   

Alya gives her a knowing smirk and pushes the timid girl closer to her crush. Marinette doesn’t dare turn around or argue because she knows that Alya is giving her a pointed look, her stern face all but yelling  _go talk to him!_

Before Marinette can change her mind, she zips to Adrien’s side, joining him as he watches birds peck the ground. He sees her, she knows, as he gives her a side long glance, but gives her a small grin. Neither say anything, but Adrien rustles in his pocket and reveals a hands full of seeds. 

Marinette feels like she’s going to melt when her finger tips brush against the face of his palm, her finger nails dragging across the lines. She prays that he can’t see the flush of her cheeks, bright red and rosy like a queen’s garden. 

The seeds bounce to the ground, the soft clatter calming as birds chirp and coo to feed on human generosity. The moment is quiet, soft and sleepy, when she finally remembers. 

“Aren’t–aren’t you allergic to birds?” 

To the side of her, she hears Adrien chuckle and her vision is filled with more seeds being tossed to the grass. “I am, but they’re pretty cute.” 

She hums her response, just basking in this togetherness like a sunflower searching for the sun. But it is the sound of her name that catches her off guard. Turning to face him, Adrien’s green eyes roam over her face, somthing resting on the tip of his tongue, but almost too afraid to say.  

She offers him a little smile, but she can’t hold his gaze for long and instead turning her eyes to the ground. “Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

To that, she looks up to see his cheeks bright pink and he’s wearing a sheepish smile as he plays with the scarf at his neck. Her eyes are wide, her face clueless as she looks at him. “For what?” 

He grins a little more and seems a little bit more sure. With a shrug of his shoulders, her turns to the birds, his hands deep in his pockets. “Just seemed like the right thing to say.” 

Marinette can’t stop the warmth spreading in her chest and her own smile grows, big and wide as she follows his gaze. “Well, you’re welcome," she tells him honestly despite not having the faintest idea why.

In the end, she realizes it doesn't matter as they spend the rest of the time watching the birds sing together.  


	6. it's a start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette has only been Ladybug for a few weeks, but despite that Chat Noir is a superhero too, it doesn't make him any less annoying.

When she was a little girl, Marinette was often asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. Of course, she would reply that she wanted to be a fashion designer, but she never imagined in her wildest dreams that she would one day be hopping from rooftop to rooftop clad in red spandex.

And if someone was to ask her who would help her run her boutique, she would always respond that she could it herself, she was a big girl after all. However, since a few weeks ago, life had to throw a wrench in her plans. So, since the eve of her fourteenth birthday, Marinette has added one more job to her list: Defender of Paris..well, One of the Defenders of Paris. 

Which brings us to now, as she stands on a platform overlooking her city, scanning for trouble with laser focus. 

“Yo, Ladybug! What about Cat Claws?”

Marinette presses her lips together and resists the urge drag her hand down her face. There is a reason she is only One of the Defenders of Paris and not the Sole Defender of Paris (though she has a sinking feeling that her job will be a lot easier if she was alone). 

 _He’ll get better, just you wait,_ she hears Tikki say, her kwami’s voice echoing in her mind. Personally, Marinette doubts that, but a part of her hopes that the cute spotted creature is right.

Taking a deep breath, she turns around and places a hand on hip. “Cat claws?”

Before her, dressed in black leather and wearing a cheeky grin, is her so-called partner: Chat Noir. His bell rings as he jumps up and mockingly swipes at her. “Yeah, you know–when I attack and destroy stuff,” he affirms. Shrugging his shoulders, he adds, “For my catchphrase.” 

Marinette rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, deciding that not saying anything will be better than saying something at all. The golden rule, right?

Chat’s smile falters for a moment, but he perks back up and swipes again. “Okay, what about Catastrophe!” 

Marinette’s lips purse further together and she begins to tap her foot. She'd rather go on patrol, can't he tell that she'd rather be doing something  _useful_.  

With less vigor, he does a teeny-tiny little swipe and squeaks out, “…Super Swipe?”

To that, Marinette–ugh, Ladybug, she’s Ladybug right now!–tosses her hands in the air, letting out a frustrated groan. “Are you serious right now? Who cares about a freaking catchphrase?”

 _Marinette!_  Tikki scolds.

Shaking her head, she doesn’t look at him when she turns around, determining  right away that it’s better to look at the skyline than spend another second looking at her  _partner_. Neither of them say anything, the seconds ticking by as they remain silent on the rooftop. 

 _I need to get out of here_ , she thinks, growing more uncomfortable by the lack of noise. 

As she starts shifting from foot to foot, bending her knees to take a leap, she feels a hand on her upper arm. Whirling around, she sees Chat Noir looking sheepish, his usual annoying bravado missing. 

At his action, she had a biting remark ready to sting, but looking at him now, it strikes her that he's just like kid–just like her. Her eyes drift to the hand still on her arm and he follows her line of sight before dropping it with a yelp and a little jump. 

She can only give him a curious look as his cheeks are flushed red and for the first time she’s met him, Ladybug is really seeing at the young man in front of her.  _His eyes are really green_. 

She can see the apple of his throat bob as he swallows a breath, composing himself. “Look, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m really excited to be a superhero,” he confesses, his cheeks going slightly red.

Ladybug’s gaze softens and she can’t help the little smile that grows upon her lips. As she doesn’t say anything, he continues. “And I know we promised to not discuss our home lives, but this is the first time I can really be myself.” His hands twist, fidgeting as he goes on, “And I want to be the best me possible.”

 _Wow, way to go, Marinette,_ she thinks as shame floods her.

Ladybug brushes a loose strand behind her ear and takes a small step closer between them, cradling an arm as she draws near. Her voice is gentle and soft as she begins to understand, “And that’s why finding a catchphrase is so important?”

Chat ducks a hand behind his head, scratching nervously at his neck, but he nods, looking more hopeful. 

This time, seconds tock between them again, but it’s not so suffocating nor so mean. It’s comfortable and honest, just like how partners should be, she realizes. 

It is then that it dawns on her and Marinette can’t stop the grin that’s growing so wide. “Oh, to the hell with it. I got one.” 

Chat quirks his head to the side, but he his eyes dance with amusement. “Got what?”

She jumps up on the ledge of building and looks down at him, smirking as she puts her hands on her hips. “Cataclysm.” 

Chat Noir hops on to the same ledge, copying her same pose, but he doesn’t stop smiling. “Pardon?”

“For your catchphrase, you silly kitty!”  

His whole face lights up and for a quick moment, Ladybug thinks he’s really adorable. But then he grabs her into a quick hug, laughing all the while. “That’s perfect!”

His enthusiasm makes them lose their footing though and if it wasn’t for her yo-yo, Marinette is positive that they would have fallen to their deaths. 

But all in all, she knows it’s a start to a great friendship.  


	7. crisscrossed and backwards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mayyybeeee a little higher than G, but you can skip it. hint: it's a kissing chapter.
> 
> prompt: then there's tongue.

Her bedroom wall is freezing, the cold chill seeping through her thin t-shirt while he pins her against the surface. Marinette can all but cling to Chat Noir as he cradles her face in his hands, his chest pressing against hers and making her knees go weak. With his lips on hers, she might not remember the flavor of air, but right now, she only craves his taste–the mix of mint and sweet–to fill her lungs. **  
**

She’s lost count how many times he’s knocked on her window in the middle of the night these past two weeks, but the tally doesn’t matter.  Chat’s hands drift from stroking the apples of her cheeks to wrap his arms around the small of her back to pull her closer. Her own hands dip into his golden locks, raking through the silky strands, tugging him towards her to kiss him more.

She’s melting, caught up in his kisses and his warmth, as he holds her close.  She flicks the tip of tongue against his lips, tracing a quick outline before pulling away. It’s almost like a growl that rumbles deep in his chest as he shoots a hand up her back, squeezing her so tight that she can’t help but gasp.

Chat takes it, his kiss bruising while his fingers play in her dark hair, his small claws sending shivers down her spine as they scrap the base of her neck. Marinette can’t stop her own pleased moan as he tastes her, his kiss hot and needing. It feels like he’s kissing her soul, kissing all of her and her heart swells as he brings her close, his tongue stroking hers.

In the back of her mind, she knows it’s wrong, that it’s so upside down and inside out that it can’t be right. Their hearts are supposed to belong to others, but he’s here, kissing her, wanting her at midnight that it doesn’t matter if her feelings are pulled in every which way. In moments likes these when she feels most like herself and she knows he feels most like himself, she can’t trade them, can’t ruin them for something else. She doesn’t need to know who he is under his mask to admit that this is where she wants to be.

She won’t forget the way Chat Noir gives little kisses, quick and small, as he pulls away to catch his breath. She can’t stop the way she looks up at him, smiling as she sweeps the hair out of his eyes with gentle fingers. Right now, when it’s just them, his kisses make her feel so alive that she’s neither Marinette nor Ladybug, but a pure combination of the two.

The day will come when Marinette will have to tell him the truth, but she can’t tonight as he holds her close to his chest, his heart beating fast under her ear. Tonight she wants to remember the sound Chat’s heart makes, the way his lips feel against hers, and the taste of his soul.

Anything else can wait till tomorrow.

She’s already so crisscrossed and backwards.


	8. linger a little longer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apodyopis - The act of mentally undressing someone.

Some nights, thankfully, the patrols serve no meaning. The world is safe as it slumbers, the souls of Parisian citizens at ease while they are nestled in their beds. During such moments, like now, their masks aren’t so heavy as they don’t carry the city as much on their shoulders. Because at the heart, with super powers and secret identities, they are just two adolescents: just a boy and a girl.

And, in this moment, this very second, the fact that she and Chat Noir are indeed two teenagers has never been so clear as her breath hitches and there is a tightness in her stomach. Butterflies flutter and the world is tilting, but she likes it. For she can no longer be Ladybug right now, even though she can feel the blue mask pressing into her face, not when she’s  _seeing him_ , his back towards her. 

Her eyes trace the edges of his suit–burning every sinuous inch to memory–the swooping lines of his shoulders that connect to the curve of his back. If she looks close enough, she can see the muscles move, ripple by one by one as he pulls one arm over his head, and lets out a big yawn. 

But her heart is beating in her ears when he rolls his shoulders again and she so desperately wants to sneak a little closer. Her fingers ache, wanting to reach for him and firmly cup his shoulders, her nails digging into the leather of his suit. If she’s brave, she thinks, braver that she’s ever been, she’d want to slip a sly hand down and trace a collarbone with her fingertip.

But her thoughts are interrupted and she is frozen solid when his gaze meets hers.

It is almost if he could feel her starting, she thinks, when he peeks to her, his eyes glinting green in the moonlight. There’s a curve of a smirk that buries into his cheek.

But Marinette won’t lie to herself–not this time–when her cheeks tinge pink, searing red, because she knows for a fact she still wants to see what’s underneath. 


	9. untangled & forwards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “we were never officially together, but my pillow still smells like you and i miss your stupid face ”.
> 
> sequel to crisscrossed and backwards

There is no knock on her window tonight, no slight  _ta-ta-tapping_ of knuckles on cool glass. It’s far after midnight and Marinette lays tucked under thick covers alone and cold. The numbers on her clock tick from 01:26 to 01:27 in the blink of an eye, a testament that time has not stood still.

 _I don’t even care_ , she tries to tell herself, flipping over to bury her face in her pillow.

But then her heart contracts suddenly, twists and squirms, when she smells faint leather and moonlight infused in the bedding. Her stomach flips, making her shiver, as she feels Chat Noir’s ghost fingertips, unforgettably slow, caress her skin. She can’t breathe, her blood rushing to her cheeks. Her nerve endings are sent in a panic, his phantom hands feathering the delicate skin of her wrists, skimming the base of her neck in her memories. 

Even when he’s not here, with his lips pressed against hers, she can feel him, almost touch him clearly as if it was last night–or the night before that–or even the night before that.  

Breath is a weight in her chest, pinning her with desires she doesn’t need, doesn’t even know she wants. Sitting up, it takes ever muscle fiber of her being to pull back the covers and not relive last night, relive his kisses that sent her aflame and warmed her heart.

And it feels like a stab when she can’t help but smile, grinning like an idiot at every silly kiss and tiny laugh that they shared between such blazing moments. In the dark of her room, if she closes her eyes, she can nearly feel the width of his palm cup her cheek, the gesture tender. 

“I don’t miss him,” she whispers, the lie so apparent as she says it. 

Yet as she sits there, holed up in her room as if she was the only one in the world, her heart cracks, the sound deafening as pieces fall. 

Holding off a shuddering sob, Marinette bites the inside of her cheek and finally gets up from her bed. The clock now says 01:43, moving forward while she was stuck in memories as she pulls on a jacket to head up to the balcony.  

 _I need to breathe_. 

With haste, she climbs up the ladder and fiddles with the door, the metal freezing as she struggles to push it open. But it’s jammed, stubborn and heavy, as she bangs on it, trying her best not to wake Tikki. And then like a spring, it opens without needing her hand, chilly Persian air blasting her face. 

In the moon’s glow, Chat Noir is above her, holding an outstretched hand and wearing a hesitant smile.

Her heart is in her throat, making it hard to speak, while she wordlessly grabs his hands, his fingers icy as they wrap around her.  The world is quiet, silent and strangling, as their eyes lock.

Chat Noir pulls her up with ease, helping her to feet with an arm she’s so used to have hold her. His thumb rubs the back of her hand–once, twice–before letting go, disconnecting himself from her. She yearns for his hand instantly. 

He shuffles from foot to foot, ducking his head, rubbing the back of his neck. She can only stare, warmed and confused and cold all at once. The tip of his nose is red though, she notices, so she takes that tentative first step forward. 

Lifting a hand, she brushes the curve of his jaw, the exposed skin frigid to the touch. He inhales, sucking in a large breath, and never exhales. Yet that doesn’t stop her from sweeping her thumb over the swell of his cheek. His eyes flutter close, eyelashes blinking slow, as he staggers kisses into Marinette’s palm.

 _Is this what love is?_  she wonders, the world zooming in on them as she feels if her soul is seeking his.

Words burn as she speaks them, stinging her lips as she asks, “You’re here?”

She can hear him swallow thick, the bobbing of his Adam’s apple jingling the bell at his neck. “I am.” 

His grip on her hand squeezes, and she’s positive he can feel her pulse. “For what?”

And he quirks a smile, small and sad, as he tucks a stray hair behind her ear. “I’m not sure,” he starts, his gaze roaming his face as his smile becomes more sure before he pulls her into a hug, “but I think this.” 

 _This_  meaning this moment, this very second where it feels like it is only them. He tucks her under his chin and she listens to the beat of the heart she’s come to love, pounding in tandem with hers.  

And like mist, the worries she felt start to dissipate, evaporating when her heart beats so fast, her blood so warm. As the two of them stand there, out in the cold, she holds him so tight he can’t breathe just right–and he holds her just the same.

“This,” she mumbles against his chest. “This is good.” 


	10. serendipity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an obscure au.

On a busy street in Paris, a blue eyed girl accidentally bumps shoulders with a blond haired boy. The moment is sudden, neither of them are prepared by the jostling action. They don’t even make eye contact when she shouts an apology over her shoulder. In the distance, he mutters  _it’s no big deal_ , but she never hears him.

If serendipity is having good luck and fortune by happenstance, than in this universe, they have none in the way of true love. 

Because in this reality, in this version of Paris, there is no magic.

For Marinette Dupain-Cheng, this alternate reality is not an issue. Even if she will never be Ladybug for there is no Ladybug, her good luck remains, born into a happy family. She still dreams of being a fashion designer and Alya is still her best friend. 

The only thing that is different is that she’s not head over heels in love with a boy.

 Adrien Agreste, on the other hand, is a completely different matter. While his modeling career has reached international status, his life is more transit. In some way, he’s closer to his father, but Gaberil Agreste is no parent yet instead a quasi-friend. He does not experience the true freedom of running on rooftops and following his heart. 

The only thing he needs to follow is the length of the catwalk and at this point, he doesn’t even try to fight destiny anymore. 

So, it is on that busy street of Paris, when they touched for one brief moment that they could have changed the entire world, but didn’t. Nothing pushes them forward, throwing their lives out of order so that they could become superheros to save the day together.

But magic would need to exist for that.


	11. fields of green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MariChat. Prompt: green.
> 
> Some good MariChat feels.

Like most times they meet, it is at night on her balcony, in a world made just for the two of them. This evening though, they rest on comfy cushions and watch a children’s movie Chat has never seen on a flickering tablet screen.  

“This movie…” Chat Noir whispers. Picking his words carefully as he continues when the white  _feline_  (because those are girl cats after all) hops on a train, “…is really…different.” 

Marinette bumps his shoulder, a teasing tone caught in her words. “And here I thought you would love the pun!”

 He scoffs and bumps her back. “Oh yeah, because  _Gay Purr-ee_  is real clever.”

She giggles as the kitty starts to sing, deep and vocal compared to her soft speaking voice, lost in a moment of childhood nostalgia. “Better than  _pawful_  or  _I was just kitten_!” 

“Hey!” 

But the two stop bickering a moment, caught up in song as the white cat belts out how much she loves Paris. Of course, the second her train pulls into the station, she promptly meets a black cat who looks like he’s up to no good. 

With a sigh, Marinette rests her head on Chat’s shoulder that interrupts his thoughts ( _black cats aren’t evil!)_. Looking down, her face isn’t caught up in little girl memories anymore. 

Reaching forward, he pauses it, making their world fall to a hush of a breeze and their breaths. 

With a careful arm, he wraps it around her, “Why so glum chum?” 

She heaves another little sigh and buries her face in his chest. “I just—” she starts, her fingers drumming a beat over his heart. “I’d really like to meet  _you_ and I don’t know–go cloud watching in a field of grass…” she trails. 

Under her palm, his heartbeat quickens, but he can’t stop the own sigh that escapes him. “But?”

She pushes out a breath, wilting on him as she tries to hold him closer. “But I have my own secrets,” she mummers into his suit, “I’m not ready to tell just yet.” 

In the back of his mind, he knows what she’s talking about, but he’s not going to bring _that_  up. Not when things are good and he’s her real friend like this. Not when despite that he knows her as Adrien, he doesn’t get to see her like  _this_.

 _We must be our truest selves_ , he thinks.  _Together like this_. 

But he doesn’t let the moment sit for long. He presses a friendly kiss to her hairline and turns the movie back on. 

“Don’t worry, Princess,” he says as the tablet glimmers again. “When you’re ready, we’ll lay in so many fields of grass that we’ll just turn green.”


	12. heartstruck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some ladrien for your soul.

For once in his life, Adrien considers himself lucky. And even if he was to die right now, his life was worth living. Because, right now, this very moment, Ladybug is holding him close, his body pressed against hers, as she saves him from a speeding car in the middle of the street.

Through his black shirt, he can feel the texture of her spandex that protects her and his whole world is tilting as she leaps in the air carrying him. He doesn’t want to return to the Earth’s gravity ever. 

“Are you okay?” he hears his Lady ask–though is she considered  _his_ Lady when he is not Chat Noir?. However, her voice is a reminder that this moment his real: that Adrien and Ladybug are at the same place at the same time. 

He lacks his usual Chat Noir bravado, but he somehow makes his mouth work again. “Yeah,” he breathes, “I’m good.”

Ladybug let’s go of the hold on his waist and puts a hand over her heart. “You really scared me there,” she admits, her blue eyes closed when heaves a sigh of relief.  

When she opens her eyes, a small smile quirks her pretty pink lips. It’s like he’s seeing her for the first time again, witnessing her utter perfection once more. With a gulp, Adrien tries to remember how to breathe, but it’s hard when she’s looking at him so tenderly. _Has she ever looked at Chat like this_?

Maybe because when he’s Chat Noir, Ladybug is his partner, his other half–but as Adrien, he feels naked and exposed, vulnerable to the world. And it is only a reminder that while he loves his Lady, seeing her with soft feminine features, she is still a young woman.

And never has she been more alluring. 

He must have been caught staring because Ladybug clears her throat and it snaps him out of his thoughts. 

She stands just as tall as he has always seen her, but there is something more girlish about her today when she takes a step closer. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she looks up at him, concern coloring her features. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

But Adrien only nods, thinking that he’ll never wash this shirt ever again. With a smile, he gently grabs her hand, feeling the warmth through her suit. Her fingers instinctively wrap around his.

_Do we fit? You and me?_

A jolt of Chat Noir surges through him, but he finds the bravery to press his lips to her hand. It is brief, a feather-like touch, and over as soon as he did it.

“All thanks to you, Ladybug,” he says when he releases her hand, his cheeks hot and his heart pounding.

But he swears, that when she zips away, her cheeks were a little pink too.

Because it is only further proof that  _maybe_  they are meant to be.


	13. sweep him off his feet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Imagine Chat doing the height mockery thing with Marinette and then she just kicks his legs out from under him but he trips her up too 'cause he's so gangly and then she lands on top of him and--oh dear.

A few moments ago, he was laughing, his sides aching as he enjoyed her various expressions at her expense. He couldn’t see, his eyes so crinkled because his grin was so wide, stretching his cheeks so far that they felt numb. But he was still happy, filled with warmth and mischief as he teased her.

“You’re just so _short_ , Marinette!” he boisterously cried out. “Just so teeny-tiny, really.”

And it didn’t matter that he really needed to remember how to breathe, but Chat Noir didn’t care because the lack of oxygen was worth it, if it meant watching Marinette getting so wound up like this. The more he laughed, the more she puffed out her cheeks and gritted her teeth, and the more she bloomed red like an angry flower.

She had thorns, he knew. Sharp thorns that would pierce anyone that dared go against the principles of justice and fairness, not caring if they bled just as red the color of her cheeks.

Marinette Dupain Cheng had thorns all right, prickly and pointed like the stem of a delicate pink rose if not handled with care. And as both her classmate and her superhero friend, he should have known better than to try pluck at her petals and prod her with bare hands.

But, Chat Noir never claimed to think about the consequences of his actions, more of a _“it’s better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission”_ type of guy, he would easily admit. And nothing is making him want to ask for forgiveness more than this moment, when Marinette throws her hands up in the air with a frustrated scream and just sweeps him right off his feet.

However, if there is one thing he knows about Marinette more so than that she’s a pretty flower covered in thorns, it’s also that she’s about as graceful a bull in a china shop when caught off guard. And, since he’s Chat Noir, he has zero to no good luck; but if there’s one thing he’s good at doing, it’s trying to save someone at the last second.

So, that’s how he ends up where he is now; his back pressed firmly on her bedroom floor, thanking his lucky stars that her family is out for dinner. _But that is all the luck he has tonight._

For her knees straddle both of his sides as her arms frame his head. He’s speechless; no silly cat pun to escape his lips as he watches her blue eyes go wide and her chest heaves as she swallows sudden gasping breaths. Her breath is so warm as it fans his face, and he is suddenly aware of the wonderful scents of chocolate and bread sticking to her clothes.

But he doesn’t want to move; her blue eyes giving him a hard stare that makes it impossible for him to want to tear his gaze away. He’s mesmerized, caught up in the stray pieces of starlight that freckle her eyes. His heart pounds against his rib cage, an increasing staccato, as he dares to lift a hand forward, his fingers skimming the apple of her cheek before carding themselves in her dark hair. She’s the first one to break eye contact, her eyes fluttering closed at the electricity of his touch.

But soon enough, Marinette pops her eyes open once again and it steals his breath away as her blue eyes burn into him like blue fire, their line of sight flickering downwards to his mouth, before she crashes her lips onto his.

And he wants to say that he’s surprised… but he’s not, having already met her halfway; her expression tugging him forward, and he’s never needed contact quite so badly as he does right now.

Her hands are in his hair, buried deep against the skin of his nape as he winds around her back until she’s pressed against him. Chest to chest, he holds her and his mind just can’t produce thoughts as her tongue traces outline of his lips before her teeth bite into his skin.

And he gasps, more than stunned and surprised, but Chat Noir can’t help but kiss her deeper, swallowing each of her breaths and melting at her closeness.

For this, _this_ is bliss and confusion and wonder rolled into her kisses as her hands frame his face and her lips part from his to pepper pecks down his neck; her tongue so warm as she licks the sensitive flesh there. He lets out a groan, sucking in a deep breath as her lips vibrate with a giggle on his neck.

Her words puff against his skin, but he hears them. “I guess height doesn’t matter for kissing.”

And now, Chat Noir has never been more willing to use his mouth for something other than talking.


	14. as the world burns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things you said when we were at our happiest

Paris is burning, flames dancing from tree to tree, from rooftop to rooftop. Smoke seeps into the oxygen they need to breathe, need to use to even be. But just because their eyes are watering, it doesn’t mean that they can stop fighting now, despite that their lungs are burning just like the city they love. 

They are huddled behind a brick building, the flames trying to bite them, but failing. It hurts to breathe still, they know, but for a second the air doesn’t taste like poison. 

Her red suit glows in the fire light just as his shine. 

Ladybug takes his hand in hers and holds it tight, like he’d fly away if the breeze blew just right. His green eyes search hers, but like a clear lake, all he can see is the fire’s reflection. 

“You know the plan, Kitty?” she answers, her words the only things he hears when the rest of the world falls to a hush.   


Deep down, he picks up a smile to use. In her hold, he sweeps his thumb over the top of her hand. 

“Of course, My Lady,” he offers, squeezing just a little bit for extra measure.   


She only nods once and her eyes drift closed as she brings his knuckles to his lips. “Good,” she mummers as she presses kisses to each finger. The heat he feels is not because of the fire that is behind their backs. 

“You’re my best friend, Chat,” she whispers when she let’s go. “Come back to me, okay?”   


He knows that they both need to go, but he lingers just for a moment longer and presses his own kiss to Ladybug’s forehead, her dark bangs tickling his lips. 

“I promise as your ally cat that I’ll always come back.”  


She laughs once, twice, and pulls him into a swift hug. Her words are soft, but he hears them. “I love you, you stupid cat. You’re my everything.” 

And a part of him just wants to stay right there, freeze this moment in ice he doesn’t have. Because for the first time in their friendship, Ladybug says she loves him. But he knows he can’t. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he jokes as he pulls away, an ever confidant grin find it’s way to dig into his cheeks. “Tell me you love me next time when you’re not so afraid.”   


She gives him a playful smile and her blue eyes are bright with tears, but he can’t tell if it’s because of the smoke or something more. 

She musters her own smile and puts on a brave face. “When this is all over, I promise to tell you that I love you everyday!” she shouts as she goes one way.

He goes the other and his heart has never felt lighter when he leaps into the flames. 

_I can’t wait to hear it._


	15. a fashion boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rule 63: genderbend

He’s always liked the color pink, he knows. Ever since he was a child, he favored the bright hue that reminded him of rose petals and soft things. Though his father had lofty dreams of dressing him in blue like his bright _blue_  eyes, as a baby Martin was always happier in pink. 

When other little boys wanted to destroy, he wanted to create, he knows too. His mother tells him that he could always be found in his parent’s closet, trying to make outfits for both his mama and papa to wear. And on more than one occasion, even as a young child, he would make his father change if he thought his usual blue t-shirt was far too plain. But his father would smile and ruffle fine black hair atop his son’s head. 

“Can’t have me looking bad when I’m out with your mom, Martin?”

In elementary school, he knew was different than the other kids like Kim and Nina. They wore rough clothes and tackled each other often in the dirt. And that is not to say that Martin didn’t like playing in the sandbox either, but he felt best when seated by Al. 

For days are best spent between getting his hands covered in both paint and mud equally. 

“Show me the dress you want to make your mom, Martin,” Al would say with a nudge, his lips forming in the most perfect smile. 

When Martin became a teenager, he stood tall, his shoulder squared as he would walk with his arm wrapped around his best friend. 

“Do you think they’re finally dating?” they would whisper, wondering, just wondering aloud the questions they always received.

But soon after, the reply would always follow. “Maybe! Martin’s gay, right? He wants to be a designer, remember?” 

So, here Martin Dupain-Cheng stands, on the ledge between being forced to be a _man_ and be a fetish.

 For could he not be not like the softer things in life, could he not like the sweet things in life covered with bows and silk, but also want to run and play soccer. 

And that same man can’t also be the one who runs across rooftops late at night, dressed in deep red with a lucky black cat at his side. 

Because fashion boys can’t be superheros too. 

But those are things that people don’t understand, like Claude when he ambles over to stand by Martin’s desk and peer at his notebook. “Oh, drawing again for your _boyfriend_ , Martin?”

He doesn’t bother looking up, his eyes focused on the the page in front of him. “Al’s not my boyfriend.” 

Claude snorts and slaps a hand down on the notebook. “C’mon,” he stresses, raking a hand through his blond hair. “No need to lie.” 

He opens his mouth to defend himself–wanting to point out that Claude is in the same fashion program as he is, but he doesn’t get the chance. 

“Claude,” the voice rings like an angelic bell, “if Martin does fashion and that automatically makes him gay, what does that make you?”   


Martin doesn’t hide the grin that splits his face in two, his heart pounding when Adrienne walks up the steps with loose flaxen hair glimmering like gold. Green eyes meet his for a second before turning back to Claude’s. “Well?” 

Claude only sputters, his face during deep red before he lets out a flustered groan and stalks back over to Sebastian. The redhead shoots Martin a glare before cheering up his friend. 

“Don’t mind him,” Adrienne says, her green eyes peering up at him through thick dark lashes. “He’s just jealous.” 

Martin almost swallows his tongue when he realizes that the goregous model Adrienne is speaking to him, her tone so friendly he feels like he could melt. “Of m-me?” he stutters, his face coloring to the flowers he most adores. 

She laughs, the sound sweet, “Of course you!” Looking over at the notebook on his desk, she hums, “These are great. I’d love to wear something of yours one day.” 

Blue eyes go wide and Martin feels like he could die on the spot. Images of Adrienne twirling in fluffy white dresses flutter in his mind like butterfly wings. He wants to say _I design with you in mind_ , but the school bell shrills and students clamor to their desks. 

With a sigh, he waves his classmate off before taking his own seat, his heart still warm like hot coco. Al doesn’t even say anything when he sees Martin’s line of sight, just chuckling to himself as he takes out a notebook to take to scribe for both of them what the teacher is saying. 

Martin can’t pay attention much in class today, his mind swimming in daydreams of designing awards and pretty pink dresses that he makes (and maybe a certain model wearing them too). For this who he is, the _real_  him–the one that loves creating soft things and whispering words of loves into everything he stitches. 

And he is also Red Beetle, saving the world with luck on his side. 

He can be both pink and red. 

He knows that. 

The world just needs to catch up a bit. 


	16. tears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> <3

This is not the first time they’ve been alone in his kitchen, in his big and lonely house, with no words whispered between them. 

Adrien can barely see, his eyes screwed tight as tears try to fall. The knife in his hand bites into the butcher block cutting board and he leaves it there stuck in the wood. 

Turning around, he uses the back of his hand to wipe his eyes. Leaning against the counter, fingers grip the surface. “How could you?” 

And Marinette has tears in her own eyes, he knows. He just can’t see because it stings too much to look. Her voice is small from where she stands, the width of his kitchen seeming miles long as they stand on opposite sides of the room.

“He seemed like such a nice guy at the time…” Marinette voice trails. 

He bites his thumb, the pain in his eyes too much to handle. However, the distraction doesn’t stop the tears that finally spill over on his cheeks. 

With a hoarse voice, he lets them fall and blearily looks at the woman on the other side of the room. For a breath, green eyes find blue despite all the tears. 

But then, he exhales and the biggest smile breaks across his face as he wipes the tears away again. Laughing, he moves across the room and grabs her in a bear hug.

“I swear to god, Princess,” he breathes into her hair. “Next time we go to the farmer’s market, let’s skip the onion stall.”

And though her cheeks are still tear-stained, he can’t ignore how happy she looks when she peers up at him. “Of course, babe.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some days, i just need to laugh and not take life so seriously.


	17. your hands on mine, my lips on yours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sharing a drink. happy new year fluff!

The clock on the Eiffel Tower clicks 11:51 PM when she realizes that she can’t feel her toes. They are numb in her fuzzy boots despite that she’s wearing the thickest wool socks she owns. Her nose froze hours ago it seems, her cheeks too as she can no longer feel her flushed face. 

But her toes, she hoped, would at least remain a little warmer on this New Year’s Eve night. 

Marinette digs her icy pink gloved hands out of her pockets and brings them to her lips. Her hot breath puffs like foggy clouds as she tries to warm them up. She still breathes warmth on her hands while peering around the crowd, hoping to see some sign of her friends. 

Looking from side to side multiple times, she tries to banish the dismay that sinks in her stomach when she finds doesn’t see them. It’s hard to swallow though, she thinks, as she was really looking forward to watch fireworks bloom over Paris with them. Kicking her boot slightly, she scuffs the ground with the sole and tries to admit that maybe she’ll be ringing this new year in alone in spot she’s guarding for everyone. 

However, fear of being alone pops when Adrien emerges from the crowd, his flaxen hair glowing like a halo in the bright lights, making him seem like her own personal angel. It takes a few moments to spot her, but then his face breaks into the most adorable grin. With rosy cheeks and a smile so wide, he hastens his pace until he’s right in front of her. 

“Sorry it took so long for me to get back,” he starts, ducking a hand behind his head bashfully. “Who knew getting a hot chocolate would take this long.”   


Marinette giggles and she’s somewhat glad she’s cold because her chattering teeth hide her stutter she sometimes has with him. “It’s–it’s no big deal.” 

Adrien opens his mouth to respond, but then his brows furrow together while he looks around. Tugging at the blue scarf–yes, the birthday from his _father_ –he purses his lips to the side in annoyance. “Have you been alone all this time?”

Blue eyes go wide at his concern, but Marinette’s teeth continue to chatter as she shakes her head. “What? No!” she squeaks, “Alya and Nino went to get snacks, but they texted a bit ago saying they were caught up in the crowd.”

“Ah,” he says with understanding. Looking over his shoulder, she notices his line of sight falls on the big clock, it’s numbers now reading 11:57 PM.  


Neither say anything in the lull of conversation so Marinette wiggles in her spot and rubs her hands together to generate some heat. She can handle being awkward–she’s positive it’s her middle name–but she can’t deal with being cold. 

She has only rubbed her hands together a few times when she hears Adrien’s voice: “Here.” 

And with gentle hands, he pries hers apart and carefully gives her the paper cup to hold. Looking up at him through her lashes, surprise colors her face at his kind expression and her chest fills to the brim with affection. 

His hands still cover hers when he nods to them, breaking out in a small laugh, “Hopefully between the hot chocolate and me, we can get you warmed up.” 

If she thought her face was frozen before, well–it isn’t any longer because her blush must be melting all the ice off her skin. 

But she can’t stop the smile that finds it’s way to her lips as she looks up at her classmate, her heart pounding too hard in her chest. “Thanks Adrien,” she says softly, but even she can hear the joy in her voice. “This is really sweet of you.” 

Yet he laughs again, the corners of his green eyes crinkle as he grins. “Was that a pun?” 

Taken aback, Marinette shakes her head, giggling, “I hope not!” With a happy sigh, she smiles at him. “If it was, it’s because I have a friend who lives for puns.” 

“Well, whoever they are,” Adrien says, his own laughter subsiding, “they’re amazing.”

A black kitty flashes in her mind and she can’t help when she hums fondly. “They really are.”  

The conversation can’t continue between them though as the crowd around them buzzes to life with cheers as the clock on the Eiffel Tower starts to countdown to midnight. Still holding the hot chocolate together, both Adrien’s and Marinette’s voices ring in the air, screaming loudly as they can when as they count backwards with the rest of Paris. 

When the clock flashes 12 AM, the crowd explodes, people jumping and screaming and hugging each other in their excitement. The same can be said for Marinette and Adrien, as they too join into all the commotion and grab each other into a huge hug.  

“Happy New Year!” she yells as she grabs onto his green coat, a part of her praying that none of this is a dream.  


“Happy New Year, Marinette!” 

Pulling back from the embrace, the hot chocolate fallen to ground from their jumping, she has never felt luckier as he holds her right and his smiling face is shining down at her. 

She’s about to pull away when he leans down and presses a small kiss on her cheek. She goes rigid in his hold and her blue eyes go wide as her face turns bright red. 

His cheeks are also a little pink she realizes when it starts to sink in that he kissed her. With a deep breath, he lets go and gives her a small grin. “Happy New Year, Marinette,” he repeats, but its softer this time.

Never breaking eye contact, blue eyes meeting green, she raises a hand to her cheek, but manages her own smile. “Happy New Year, Adrien.” 

And she doesn’t need encouragement when she stands on her tiptoes to kiss him on the lips.

For the start of 2016, he meets her halfway. 


	18. a flash of anger

It isn’t supposed to be like this, he knows. It’s supposed to be a moment filled with joy, toppling with celebration as victory rings clear through the air as she speaks.

_Bye, bye little butterfly._

There’s supposed to be a fist bump and grins shared between them, happy and thankful that each one’s alive. For life often pivots without a moment’s notice, and if they’re not careful, one of them might end up dead. 

But that’s not happening: no fist bumps, no smiles, no flirtatious goodbyes and _so long farewell, until we meet again._

Because Ladybug has ducked her raised fist, completing missing Chat’s suspended one, and sucker punches him right in his solar plexus. Darkness colors the edges of his vision as he stumbles forward when he gasps, searching for air that just doesn’t seem to reach his lungs. He’s only mildly aware that his chin has slammed into her shoulder and that his teeth clink together, his molars clacking at the impact. 

He knows he wants to string together thoughts, to try to make sense what’s going on, but for the life of him, he can’t see why Ladybug–his beloved Lady–would turn on him. 

Her voice is low, and it’s like a life preserve that tethers him to reality. So, he clings and clings and clings because his chest hurts so much and he’s still not really breathing. 

“Listen here and listen now, you stupid cat,” she seethes, her teeth grinding. “If you try to sacrifice yourself one more time to save me, I will personally deliver your sorry ass in a bodybag to Death himself.”  

Her words slowly wrap around him, but he’s not sure exactly what they mean.

In a vacant park in Paris, he hears their miraculous beeping, warning them that they’re about to transform back into their normal selves.

_For being a superhero is a dream, a departure from reality._

With not exactly rough hands not exactly gentle hands either, Ladybug lowers Chat Noir on the ground. The membranes of his lungs are starting to expand again and despite the pain, he takes a breath. Electric green eyes slowly look up into aquatic blue and he swallows, because what can he say?

This time, kind fingertips brush his forehead, sweeping the messy hair that frays. He’s so confused, so turned upside, but he can’t look away. 

“Just remember, Chat Noir,” he hears her say as the world starts to go dark. “Next time, I’ll kill you; so please just try to live for me.”

And when he wakes up, somewhere hidden in the park, he decides that her wrath is worth the pain. 


	19. fermentation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Capernoited - Slightly intoxicated or tipsy. Ladrien.

Her heart is full, filling to the brim as his hums fill the little space between them–his chin on her head and her ear pressed against his heart. Hands latched around his neck and arms circled around her waist signify the universal teenage dance that every child knows as they sway from side to side. 

Music plays slightly muffled sounds from his shirt pocket, but that’s fine for it only needs to be heard for the two of them as they dance in their school quad. Not that Adrien knows that it’s Ladybug’s school quad too because she’s wearing a bright red superhero costume instead of her favorite pair of jeans. 

With a deep breath (or is it a sigh?), she sucks in his scent–spicy, warm, and musky–and curls her fingers in the collar of his white shirt. It coats her lungs and the oxygen floods her bloodstream, every cell of her body becoming infected by the essence of _him_. Adrien’s finger’s skim the dimples of her back, causing chills to climb up her spine that leave prickly kisses in their wake. 

There’s a brush of chapped yet warm lips at her hairline that makes her smile against his chest, her own lips puckering to kiss the fabric over his heart. However, the words that follow make her knees weak as her soul melts. “I like this.” 

 Ladybug’s words are quiet, gentle even as they float only high enough for him to hear. “I like this too.”

Pulling back, she unhooks her hands and trails her powerful fingertips down the length of the model’s arm until she captures a hand of his to hold. Palms pressed together like mirror images she can feel their pulse points ricochet off the other. Her other hand brushes a stray piece of hair out of his green eyes, making them gleam easier in the low light.  

“I like this,” she reaffirms, a hand swimming to and fro between them. “I like the pace–easy and pressure free–and I like the strength I have.” 

Her honesty rings in the air, a held note as they each take a breath. 

After a second, Adrien grins, small and sweet, and smooths a hand over the curve of her hip. “I like this,” he says again. “I like this you and I like this me and all I want is to just be with you.”

Like Dionysus’s chalice, the dam of her heart breeches and overfills, love pouring for every pore embedded in her skin. She’s positive they are both standing knee deep in her affection, but she doesn’t care if they drown. For she is drunk off this love and drunk off him and never wants to stop.

Standing on her tips toes,  she kisses the corner of his mouth. “Even with secrets I can’t tell just yet?” 

His chest rumbles as he laughs, “Even with secrets _I_ can’t tell just yet.”

“Whatever you say, handsome boy,” she giggles as her kiss only ghosts his lips. “As far as secrets are concerned,” she teases with a hum. “I actually go to school here.” 

 And when his lips touch hers briefly, the impression burns her with his reply. “And I also happen to save Paris on a regular basis.” 


	20. and that's that

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladynoir. A gentle and firm kiss. based on "like real people do" by Hoizer 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97uHUyPL5dA

_Spring_   _is coming_ , Ladybug thinks as both she and her partner sit high on a bridge’s suspension cables looking over La Seine. The afternoon is mild on the rare weekend day where Chat is free to do daytime patrol. Breezes and sunshine kiss their cheek the smell of water reaches up to them. 

Bot of their feet swing to and fro from their spot, enjoying the view as little boats go along the river’s bend. Above them, fluffy clouds dart the the otherwise clear blue sky. 

It’s perfect, a picturesque moment that Ladybug doesn’t think she will soon forget. For how many days do they really have when mayhem isn’t treading the streets and she’s constantly on edge about winning? Not many, that’s for sure, so she will savor this moment, tuck it away in her heart for when future days seem bleak. 

“You know,” Chat starts, his voice breaching the comfortable silence between them. “I don’t care about knowing you are under the mask anymore.” 

He says it so casually, as if it didn’t mean anything, but they both know that that’s a lie. It means everything–it means no pressure and it means that _it’s okay, secrets are normal. We all have skeletons in our closet._

And Ladybug can’t stop the curiosity that swells up in her mind as the question falls out of her mouth, her head tilted to the side. “And why’s that?” 

A beat skips between them as Chat chews on the question before turning to face her. The metal cables creak as he slowly adjusts himself to angle her and she does the same, the pair mirror images of each other, chests turned as legs hang. Where there was blue sky filling her sight is now filled with polished peridot, so green and bright that’s all she sees. 

With a bite of his lip, Chat takes two hands and cups her cheeks, the claws prickly yet kind as the pads of thumbs stroke there. Her breath catches, caught off guard and unsure, but not upset. And when he places a firm but gentle kiss to the center of her forehead, the invisible mark he leaves strangely warms her to her toes, her blood becoming warm as her heart beats faster.

“Because,” he says, his breath fanning her bangs. “This you must be just as you as this me is just as me.”  

When he pulls back, it’s hesitant and awkward, but very endearing. His face is a little red yet his smile is broad. Turning his attention back to the river, he proudly declares. “And I already like you so that’s that.” 

Ladybug soaks in his profile, from the glistening of his blond hair to the tips of his red ears as his gaze is solely focused on everything that isn’t her. She has her own secret grin though when she shifts back to stare about at the expanse of Paris, her fingertips brushing the skin that he kissed when she adjusts her bangs. 

And though it could have got caught on the wind, her words when she replies stay with them both for the rest of the day. 

“And that’s that.” 


	21. as the world sleeps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a tikki and marinette drabble. not love square related.

It is night and for once _her_ world is asleep, tucked safe and sound in her bed where danger cannot find her. This is now the norm, for the young girl to lay there with her eyes closed, peaceful as her mind paints dreams, her subconscious not clouded in the miasma fears. No nightmares creep and crawl into dreamland, no demons that should be dead rise up again because now, Marinette sleeps and she sleeps well. 

And Tikki watches, sees with her own two very large blue eyes the girl’s chest rise and fall with a steady pattern, breathing even and _alive_. Marinette’s eyes dance on the backs of her eyelids as she falls, falls, falls deeper into her slumber. 

Moonlight sifts through the curtains and bounces until it gleams the girl’s earrings bright. They shine and glisten, whisper for Tikki to come home. 

The kwami swallows, a large lump forming in her little throat. 

 _It is time_ , they tell her and she knows, she knows that what happens now for the world is safe and _Ladybugs just aren’t needed anymore_. But that doesn’t make it easier. Because she has fallen in love with her charge more than the last and just how can a kwami just love so much when she knows that her love must end.

Because that’s what happens when the world is in order, balanced perfectly on the scale of good and evil, both sides equal to the other. 

With the nub of her hand, she smooths Marinette’s brow bone, a sweeping touch of love and thanks all rolled into one. At the center of the girl’s forehead, right where a third eye lies deep in her mind, she presses a kiss filled with _goodbye_. 

Tikki closes her eyes and let’s the magic that flows through her take over, knowing that if she stares any longer, she just won’t leave. 

But with just one more peek, she starts of fade from where she floats. She memorizes every detail of Marinette’s face, every freckle and every pore, and sears it in her heart with every Ladybug before her. 

“I’ll always love you, Marientte,” she whispers, but no one is a wake to her.

And when the girl in question wakes up, she won’t remember either. 

All that is left is a dream filled with red and a hole in her heart she can’t begin to comprehend. 


	22. write to me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> soulmate au where if you draw on your skin, the other can see

It starts when she’s six years old and she’s playing dolls up in her room. The word _hello_ scribes itself on her arm, the letters are messy and childish just as if she’s written them herself.  But Marinette knows she doesn’t have a marker in her hand for she is literally holding her doll. The green letters impishly tease her as her heart beats. For a moment, she closes her eyes, screws them so tight she can see little spots dance on the backs of her eyelids. 

With a careful breath, she one slowly pops one blue open and more words are added _hello. hello??? can you read me?_  

At the addition, she screams so loud and runs down the stairs with tears falling down, her footsteps thudding as she tries to runaway. She shouts and wails and hiccups until she finds her mother in front of the stove making dinner and tugs forcibly on her white shirt. 

“Mama! There’s a ghost writing on my arm!” 

Ever worried, Sabine looks down and to Marientte’s surprise she grins a knowing smile, the one where her dimple appears at the corner of her mouth. 

Kneeling down, Sabine traces the ghostly letters on her daughter’s arm before she kisses her forehead. “That’s no ghost, dear,” she beings. “Just your soulmate.”

And that is when Marinette learns about soulmates, learns about the messages and drawings they can leave on your skin. Because in her world, soulmates are threaded through ink, marked with love and affection in an instant. 

Looking down at her arm again, more green words appear and a drawling of a frowny face. _i’m sorrr if i scareded you :(_

To that she, giggles and wipes her snot and tears away with the back of her hand. When she dashes up stairs, she replies. 

_it ok. i’m a big girl!_

* * *

When she’s nine she realizes that you can’t exchange names with your soulmate.  No matter how many times she’s tried to tell him, it always end up as _hello my name is ________!_  To say that it’s annoying is an understatement, because all Marinette wants to do is just tell her soulmate her name and learn his in return.

Instead, she tries her best to describe what she looks like, mentioning she has black hair and blue eyes. Apparently, he has green eyes and blond hair and looks just like his mother. 

Sometimes, late at night, she will feel the writing on her arm and wake up to see that he left a note. _Mom is really sick again and Dad is so angry._ On nights like those, she she tells him of her dreams to become a great fashion designer and tries to redraw all the outfits she wants to make for him. 

It doesn’t really work well on her thin arm, but she can tell that it makes him feel better. 

* * *

When she's eleven, Marinette doesn’t hear from him. She writes to him every day. 

_soulmate are you okay?_

But he never responses, never tells her if he is okay or if he’s not. 

Some days when she’s scared, she wonders if he died and sometimes she asks him to tell her he’s alive.

But that reply doesn’t come either…so she stops writing him all together.

* * *

On her thirteenth birthday, right when she’s about to blow the candle, she feels the all but forgotten itching sear her arm. In haste, she shoves up her sleeve and in a room filled with family, she breaks down and cries. 

 _happy birthday…I miss you_  is the best present she got that year.

* * *

When she’s fourteen, strange things start to happen because now she’s a superhero. She can’t tell anyone, not even him. Though she wants to, but she can’t. 

She will keep him safe. 

And besides, when you’re fourteen, there are more important things to worry about then when you’re going to save Parix next. For example, the newest sentence that appears on her arm when she’s trying to do redo the homework she keeps failing. 

_have you been in love?_

He must be doing homework too for his words are inky and black, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. A part of her wells up in rage because it’s like he doesn’t care about the ink that connects him: hers and his. 

She bites her lips and tries to swallow the lump in throat, swallow the betrayal that is oozing from her heart. 

Her arm itches again as she remains silent, gripping her pencil she can almost feel it snap.

 _because i think i found you and i think if it’s you, that i’m falling in love with you_. 

Breath hitches in her lungs, stopping her anger right in it’s tracks. 

_so i’m going to do something and hopefully it will be you, okay?_

* * *

It’s their weekly patrol, hers and Chat Noir, when she finally pulls herself up to the Eiffel Tower. 

Annoyed, she keeps playing with her bangs when she hears him. “Don’t think you look purr-ty this evening, My Lady?” 

To that, blue eyes meet green and the hero in red can only laugh as she pauses her preening. “Okay, don’t make fun of me,” she starts, “but my soulmate is an idiot.” 

He steps closer, a little smile wanting to form at his lips, but it doesn’t. “Oh?”

Huffing, Ladybug crosses her arms. “Yeah! Last night he’s like…oh, I think I found you blah blah blah–let me draw this huge big symbol on our foreheads to find each other!” 

Chat laughs, his eyes crinkling. “What?”

At this point, Ladybug is already caught up in a fit, “I know! It’s so stupid and he just…wrote..THIS,” she punctuates as she pushes her bangs up for him to see. 

And what is hidden behind her hair is the world’s worst pick up line: _did it h_ _urt when you fell from heaven?_

Chat Noir doesn’t laugh, his jaw falling slack as he openly stares. From where she stands, Ladybug shuffles her feet, unsure what the problem is. 

Seconds tick between them, a silence stretched longer than it needs to be for two friends. “Chat?”

But Chat Noir blinks and a smirk starts to bury itself into his cheeks. “Well?” he prompts. “Did it?” 

Ladybug furrows her eyes. “Did what?”

And as he pushes up his bangs for her to see his forehead, he only mimics what’s written on his skin. “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”


	23. and I'll write to you too

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> soulmate au when you write on the skin, the other sees part two

He’s six when he dreams of a girl with blue eyes and black hair whose smile is just as pretty as starlight. She’s little like him, if not littler and he wants nothing more than to be her friend. So, when he wakes up from the most perfect dream he holds her hand and they just play, he cries and mourns and shoutswhen he realizes he’s all alone. 

And just as all the parenting books say, your little one might just be the one who contacts their other half first, their eyes bright and their hearts eager. Babbling and crying and demanding for that special person to come back.

_Why did they go away?_

No one knows how it began or why it happens, but it’s common knowledge that one day when you’re small and you’re pure, your heart fills up with selfless love, innocent love that only children possess. 

So that morning when his mother comes running in and sees Adrien’s face covered in snot and his eyes are red, her smile softens. 

And she tells him the story about soulmates and how you can write to them on your skin.

* * *

 

When he’s nine, she’s the best part of his day. 

He wants to know her name, but it’s okay that he doesn’t know it yet. She has other names, just as good names. 

_The Girl Who Can Stitch and Sew_

_The Girl Who Dreams Big_

_The Girl Who Comforts Me When the World Sleeps_

Those are good names for her too. 

* * *

 

When Adrien’s eleven, he ignores the searing on his skin, ignores her words as she writes to him. 

_are you okay?_

There was once a promise made that they both would write everyday, but it’s hard to love her when his mother is dead.

_did you eat today?_

And it’s harder to be a good friend to the living when dreams are just as good. 

_are you even alive?_

* * *

 

He’s thirteen when he dreams again and knows that it’s her. 

This time she doesn’t smile.

And neither does he because all he can see are the tears that come down her face from where she stands. His dream is dark and she’s a darker spot and he knows it’s all his fault. 

So he wakes up, his heart pounding in his chest and writes the words as quickly as he can on his skin, welting the flesh when he presses the pen too hard.

_happy birthday...I miss you_

Adrien almost thinks she won’t reply, this nameless, faceless girl that his tied to, but he feels it, her script better than a hug.

_you’re the worst soulmate thing ever...i missed you too._

* * *

 

He’s fourteen when his arms are always covered in art late at night when they both should be doing math homework. There are flowers that wrap around his knuckles and hearts that dot his palms. Silly drawings of stupid faces and wonderful sketches of dresses she wants to make. 

He’s positive her name starts with an M because every now and there she leaves a monogram on the back of his palm near his palm and it makes him smile because it’s really loopy. 

* * *

 

He’s also fourteen when he becomes Chat Noir and life is stranger than soulmates that can write on the skin. 

But this new power that drives him to her, this girl he doesn’t know by face, but by soul that throws his entire world out of order. 

And he’s reminded of dreams when he was a child, of a girl whose eyes are bluer than the sky and whose smile sparkles like starlight. 

And she’s here and he’s here and to put it lamely, it’s love at first sight. 

* * *

 

“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” he asks, his cheesy pick-up line ringing between them as Ladybug stands, her bluer than blue eyes wide. 

He drops his hand slowly and his bangs fall back into place, just as hers have and waits because he doesn’t know what to say. 

And finally, she breathes, letting go of a breath that froze her into place. “It’s you?” her voice is whispers, barely a breeze. 

He swallows--a lump of emotion caught in his throat--and grins, joy banging his heart against his sternum. “It’s me.”

Again, Ladybug doesn’t move for a moment, taking in all this information, but when she takes a step forward, he does the same.  

Time stretches between them and he wonders what she’ll do.

However, he doesn’t need to wait long because her palm goes straight his forehead and she smacks him so suddenly his teeth chatter together.

“The hell!” he shouts as he doubles over in surprise and goes to soothe his forehead as she giggles. 

Green eyes narrow and search for her blue. She sticks out her tongue. “Serves you right for making me go through that all day.” 

And he can’t stop the little smile grin that finds it’s way on his face. “Well, I wanted to make sure you were thinking about me.” 

Ladybug rolls her eyes and goes to grab her yo-yo. He’s trying to scamper himself up straight when she’s already tossed the damned thing some where far away.

But before she goes, she stops to smile, blue eyes find green in the night’s darkness. “Next time, why don’t you just ask me out on a date?” 

Chat Noir is left alone staring longingly at the girl disappearing in the distance. 

Hands falling his knees, he chuckles to himself. “Why didn’t I just think of that?”

And with that, he follows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I legit have no idea why this AU is so popular lol.  
> WHY?  
> not that it's a bad thing, just curious! :)  
> [P.S. tomorrow, March 11th is my birthday~~and if you guys love me, maybe you can check out some of my other things and tell me what you think! ^^ or leave a comment here!!!]


	24. so i can finally meet you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> final part of the soulmate au

She’s fourteen when she finds her soulmate, a young girl with a full heart and disbelief washing over her as she looks high above the city’s skyline and sees him. And she knows it’s him because there is her _M_ , loopy and it’s tail curling much like a vine as it wraps around itself, on the back of his palm next to his thumb. 

 _Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?_  

He said that too, just last night high above a sleeping world where dreams are dreams and they keep the nightmares away. But when he said that, he was not posted on a billboard, his face composed and his stature poised.

For Chat Noir is everything but poised. He’s silly and sweet and zany, but not poised. Not perfect, not composed, not programmed to be beautiful and out of reach. 

And Adrien Agreste might be her classmate, a handsome classmate at that, but he’s not _Chat_. He’s kind, thoughtful, and shy. Not boisterous, not loud, not overwhelming.

And so her jaw remains dropped and she stares. Blue eyes bigger than dinner plates, with her neck cranked so far back, all Marinette can do is try to stitch the images of Chat Noir, Adrien Agreste and her soulmate together. 

It’s kinda not working.

_It’s me._

* * *

_do you miss me yet?_  makes her jump from her tumbling thoughts, but Marinette can’t stop the small smile that travels onto her face. 

 _sometimes more than others_ , she replies, giggling as she imagines a pouty face–whose’s she’s not sure, but it’s still worth giggling over–and quickly adds _but i do._

* * *

Marinette is fourteen when she walks into her classroom Monday morning, her mind still trying to piece three boys together into one: hers. 

She’s late as she always is, Ladybug’s luck only contained in a suit of red and refuses to do double duty for real life too. A blond spot she never noticed before catches her eyes and just like on the poster board, all Marinette can do is stare. 

Because Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir/her soulmate are literally in the same room as her and…

“…you’re just beautiful.” 

And the words slip out out of her mouth, running like water that won’t stop. The same can be said for Adrien as he snaps his head up into Marinette’s direction, green eyes wide and a blush flooding his cheeks (not electric green eyes, but familiar nonetheless). 

There must be six feet between them, but it feels like six miles, six long miles fenced in by embarrassment. 

Her soulmate swallows and tries to smiles. “Thanks, Marinette…” he mumbles before ducking his head back down. 

As she races up the stairs to her seat, all she can push out of her mouth is “No problem.”

But it’s just as horrible.

* * *

Marinette doesn’t tell him she’s found him at school that day.

* * *

_you’ve been quiet lately._

The words write themselves on her arm, swirling in a circle, the beginning starting in the middle. The early morning sun glimmers through her window and reflects off her mirror, searing her eyes like how those words sear her skin. 

Marinette doesn’t know the words to explain what she’s feeling….

…so she doesn’t write him back. 

* * *

There’s an akuma for the first time in two weeks since she’s found her soulmate. And its been thirteen days since she’s learned that her soulmate is also her classmate. 

Three personalities that just don’t add up and she can’t be trying to figuring out this particular equation when she has Paris to save. 

Ladybug wears her mask, dons the red suit to hide the confusion that swims through her soul and only speaks to Chat Noir when necessary.

Because she doesn’t have words for him spoken or written. 

* * *

She’s about to leap off the building, her yo-yo pitched in her hand when a staff clatters loudly on the ground beside her. It echoes in the silence of their non-existent conversations. 

Chat Noir speaks, hushed anger rolling off his tongue, “What gives, Bug?”

Ladybug turns around, but she feels naked, exposed and in her mind, on the rooftop she can only see herself as Marinette. And she can only see him as Adrien. 

_They don’t even know each other._

“I just…” she starts, her words fading as she looks away. “I’m just so confused right now.” 

There’s an intake of breath, and he takes a step back, his foot crunches the gravel on the rooftop. “About?” 

Though her blue eyes are shrouded by her bangs, she knows he can see them. She knows that he can see the blue of her eyes and instead of seeing the sky, he sees her fears painted as clear as day. 

She doesn’t even get to open her mouth and word doesn’t even fall out, but they both heard it loud and clear.

 _Us_. 

So, he runs away.

* * *

The billboard is taken down today. 

Her loopy _M_  no longer displayed for all of Paris to see on Adrien’s hand. 

* * *

It’s late at night and there is no searing on her skin. 

Marinette has been fifteen for two days and he didn’t wish her happy birthday. 

Not that she blames him, because she doesn’t. Even as Ladybug and Chat Noir, they’re not speaking. 

Which a part of her is okay with, but the other part of her hates it.

* * *

It is sunrise, bright and golden like Chat/Adrien’s/her soulmate’s hair. Tikki smooths her brow bone, laughs when Marinette’s eyelashes tickle her when she flutters them open. 

They rest there, kwami and charge, for a brief moment before Tikki breaks the quiet. “You should tell him the truth.”

As she stares up at the ceiling, Marinette nods her head. 

“I know.”  

* * *

When Marinette comes to school today, she makes sure she gets there early. 

Just like she knows Adrien will be on Tuesdays. 

And when she walks into the classroom, all she can see is that his head is down, buried in his arms. Her steps are light as she tiptoes over and more than ever, she wishes she could just touch his hair. 

But she doesn’t. 

Instead, she pulls up right next to him, purposefully dragging Nino’s chair so that it shrieks a little in the quiet room. To that, Adrien jolts awake, purple bags under his eyes and clutches a hand over his heart. 

With a deep breath, he finally calms himself and gives her a gentle smile. His voice is so soft when he says, “Hi Marinette.” 

(It makes her heart twist).

She offers her own smile, a mix between shame and joy that compose her entire being lately. Shame because she’s been ignoring him, but joy that he’s near. 

 _We’re corresponding shapes_ , she remembers he told her once. Made from the same clay to compliment each other. And Marinette has to agree as she sits next to him that they do indeed fit. 

However, her daydreams are interrupted when he clears his throat and it brings her back to reality. 

She’s right next to her soulmate. 

To a boy she might or might not know. 

But to know something means you have to learn and right now, there’s nothing more she wants to do.

So, she smiles and leans on her hand as the room fills with people. “What’s your favorite color?”

* * *

It’s three a.m. when Marinette gives up sleeping, her mind muddled with three different smiles that surround one boy. 

 _I heard Adrien laugh today_ , she thinks. And the day’s events only a reminder as rain beats softly against her skylight. 

But of course he only laughed when she was caught in his umbrella, the one he lent her because he’s a nice person.

 _I heard my soulmate laugh today_ , she thinks again and a dopey smile makes its way to her face. _And it was wonderful._

* * *

Tonight Ladybug climbs up the Eiffel Tower, her heart drumming against her rib cage as she hoists herself onto the platform. Chat Noir is already there, his back facing her. 

His posture is tense, stiff even and she’s reminded of photos she’s looked up of Adrien–ever still image she could find. 

She can’t help but hug herself as she walks towards him, her feet feeling like concrete. But she finds the courage to stand right beside him and knows when his eyes flicker over to her because she can feel the burn of his gaze. 

She takes a deep breath and tries to find her own smile, but she’s scared. Yet being scared got her in the first place, so she swallows the bile that tries to rise up. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispers simply. “I’m sorry,” she repeats and this time blue meets green and she refuses to look away despite that she’s folding into herself as she hugs herself tighter.  

“Hey, hey,” she hears him say as his face falls into a panic as she continues to crumble. “Hey.” 

But now her vision is blurry and she’s just so tired and confused but he’s here–three boys that are actually one and it’s all finally clicking into place. 

He awkwardly pulls her into a hug and for once, it doesn’t feel like there are miles between them and it’s best awkward hug she’s ever had in her entire life. “Don’t cry now, LB,” he tries to say as he pats her back. “…I literally don’t know what to do with crying girls.” 

To that she laughs and picks her face up that was pressed against his chest, “Well, making them laugh is a good start.”

Chat Noir grins in the light, his teeth model white. “Noted.” 

With a hum, she digs her face back into his chest and throws her arms around him. He holds her just as tight and finally it seems like all the confusion that has surrounded her heart has dissipated.

_It’s you._

And that’s all she needs him to be.

* * *

She wakes up late like she normally does and rushes out the door with a bun in her mouth. She knows that her soulmate told her _good morning_ , but he must have had his morning shower for there is no longer a mark on her body. 

Marinette dashes into the classroom with a few minutes to spare, but pauses for a moment to smile at Adrien. Big and broad like her heart as it fills up with affection for the one she loves.

Because she’s right here and he’s right here and that’s exactly where they’re supposed to be.

He returns the smile because he’s kind, she knows, but that’s okay.

Because today’s the day.

* * *

It’s break and his hands are in her perfect line of sight from her seat. He’s chatting with Nino and Alya is catching up on some sleep. 

With an inky red pen, she sketches her familiar loopy _M_  on the place by his thumb. Both boys stop and watch with wonderment as the symbol forms on Adrien’s skin magically. 

“Your soulmate, huh?” Nino asks. 

Adrien blushes and rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah, this is kinda her thing. I think her name starts with a M.” 

But before Nino can reply, Kim and Max call him and he excuses himself for a moment. Leaving Adrien alone. 

Grabbing a pen of his own, she can feel his words sear her skin as he writes to her. _miss you_  he simply says. 

Her heart is about to burst in her chest because she’s never seen him write her before, but the way he’s looking at his message is so filled with love that she can’t help herself from speaking up. 

“Did it hurt?” she prompts and catches him off guard. 

Like a day not too long ago, Adrien snaps his head towards her and tilts it to the side with question. “Did what?”

And from her seat, her smile only grows as she shows him the back of her hand, the loopy _M_ and _miss you_ plain to see, watching with joy bubbling as his eyes go wide at their meaning. 

“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and this is the end of the soulmate au.
> 
> i'm going to repost all three drabbles into their own post like tomorrow :)


	25. dance all night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bassed off starrycove's breakdance au on tumblr

_This is what freedom tastes like_ , he thinks. It’s flavored with sweat and music so loud it beats louder than your heart. 

And it’s a crowded room, far underground from the eyes of adults and overprotective fathers who don’t understand that models can have _movement_. Because all he does is pose–tilt his head high, freeze, release a breath, shift his shoulders, don’t move, _stay right there!–_ and posing is frozen thing, a snapshot the camera has to get in the most perfect moment. 

Over and over and over again. 

But not when dancing. Not when sweat slicks his brows and cools his face as it slides down his skin. No one is stiff or still or inhuman as they pop and lock elbows, dip low, or bounce. For this is living and this freeing and this is everything he’s not.

However, it’s exactly who he wants to be. 

Thus, Adrien continues to sneak out and break all the rules his father has in place to enjoy his freedom.

* * *

 _This is all by chance_ , Marinette thinks. It’s by chance she found her way her way into a world where words are spoken with moves and time is controlled by beats. 

All she did was follow a little ladybug, a girl with red hair and bright blue eyes, and down the rabbit hole she went. 

So, she finds herself here, scared at first, even more unsure of herself as those around her know exactly how to move, how to dance and break down, and jump. Jump so high they might as well have springs in their feet. 

And it’s just when she’s about to turn her on her heel and scamper back out from where she came–back to a place where rules are rules and life makes sense–she feels the tap on her shoulder. 

She turns around quickly, her makeshift mask almost slipping as she peers up into the most electric green eyes in the fluorescent light. His smirk is digs its way into his cheek, a tongue flickering over a seemingly sharp canine.  

“Hey,” he shouts over the noise, “wanna dance, little bug?” 

She eyes him from head to toe, gives him the good old once over as her gaze climbs up his black clothes. Between them is more than arm’s reach and his hands rest easy on his hips as his smile begins to grow the more she thinks.

“C’mon, My Lady,” he laughs and she hears it. “Come dance and I bet you’ll enjoy it.”

* * *

 _This is what it means to be in sync_ , they think. It’s perfect, each step completely practiced until it’s known by heart and mind.

Freedom and chance are loosely related they come to realized because both things are strangely controlled by fate. And it was fate that brought them here to this underground dance room to find each other. 

Not every routine is perfectly choreographed and that’s okay because _doing things on the fly is their style_. They might start off with the usual flow, but they know for a fact that each dance always ends up different than the last. 

So, this is where who they are: Ladybug and Chat Noir _,_ two mysterious dancers who really are nothing without the other. The other is honestly more a part of their identity than their actual self and that’s the way they prefer it. 

Because with dance, you either make it or break it with your partner.

And from where they stand, covered in sweat and hearing a thundering applause from the audience, they made it. 


	26. a sundry of things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> have a few micro stories, none are necessarily interconnected, but it's kinda fun to pretend they are :)

"You love me, right?"

There is humor threaded in his question, knitted and comfortable as he bumps into her shoulder playfully. 

Marinette looks at this boy who is her partner–though he doesn’t know that she’s Ladybug. It’s a sunny day and they met randomly on a park bench, but it’s okay. 

Chat Noir leans in closer, a hum waiting for her reply and she can’t help but notice his eyebrows wraggling as he does so. 

A coy smile tugs at her lips as she taps his nose. “I love you just enough.”

Whether or not if she means as a superhero or a boy, Marinette hasn’t decide that answer just yet. 

* * *

 

"Sorry, were you sleeping?

The question is only asked when something soft pelts him and Chat Noir springs up from his sleep clutching hand over his heart. Looking down, he sees Marinette standing in the shade of the tree he’s decided to use that afternoon as a place to take a… _chat_  nap. 

But he smiles, sleep tucking itself into his grin though. “I _was_ , Princess,” laughs as he lets out a big yawn. “I was.”

Below him, he hears Marinette giggle and she beams so big her face almost splits into two. “Were they good dreams?” 

Warm afternoon sun peeks through the leaves and his suits feels warm and cozy. Settling himself, he hangs a one arm over a large branch and rests his cheek on the other. “They were,” he starts, “but right now is even better.” 

* * *

"Will you marry me?"

The question comes in the blink of a second, blue eyes and raven hair filling his whole view. And in that same second, his heart has never pounded so hard in its life. 

“Wha–?” But no words are coming out of Chat’s mouth as Ladybug smiles, so big and bright, while hanging upside down waiting for his reply. 

“Answer, answer Kitty Cat,” she laughs so hard her eyes crinkle. “Some little girls are throwing a wedding and need a bride and groom!” 

Finally, realization clicks and the world comes back into focus. Ladybug is still swinging upside as Paris is alive and well behind her. 

Offering his hand with a bow, green eyes peer into blue. “Are we taking my last name or yours?”

 

 

* * *

"So, it was you."

Marinette freezes, her locker door still in mid swing at his voice, but shock wears off quickly enough. Turning around, she quirks her head to the side with her own question.

“What was me, Adrien?” 

From where he stands, he ducks his head down to fiddle with something in his bag. And she might have not noticed it before, but Adrien has indeed grown taller this year. 

He holds his hand up for a second as he struggles to pull something out of his bag, but the delayed moment ends quickly as it started. For when he finally manages to get the item unstuck, the pretty blue scarf she made for him over a year ago flutters effortlessly before her very eyes. 

Words dry up in her mouth and a marvelous blush blooms across her cheeks, her neck. “Who–who told you–” she sputters. “No–I would, I would never–” 

But Adrien laughs, a smile as natural as his existence and takes a step closer. “Alya told me.” 

To that, Marinette promptly closes her mouth and pouts, her lower lip puffed out as arms cross her chest. “Well then,” she says, though in her mind, she knows exactly who she has to kill. 

Adrien puts a hand on her shoulder and Marinette pauses her pouting, big blue eyes blinking up at him. 

“It made me really happy, you know,” he starts. “To think it was from my father.” 

Marinette only nods, a little grin dancing on her lips. “Well, yeah,” she says with a laugh. “You were so jazzed about it that I just…” 

“…couldn’t ruin that for me,” he finishes softly. 

“Yeah.”

The hallway is quiet now, not many students lingering in the building. It’s not awkward per say between them, but it is obvious that there is a shift between them. 

“Well,” Marinette starts, closing her locker door behind her. “I’m just–I’m just gonna…go…now?” 

Adrien blinks and like a switch, he begins to move. “Ah, yes,” he says. “Go as in…go home?”

Marinette giggles and rocks on her heels, “Yeah, I have to study.” 

The boy in front of her bites his lip, his two front teeth adorable and cute. He bites down a little harder and runs a hand through his hair. “Maybe we can study together sometime?” 

And though her face is redder more than ever before, she knows she has never smiled more in her life. “We can study today if you’d like.” 

* * *

 

"You are beneath me."

Adrien laughs and grins up at his girlfriend. “Well, yeah,” he states. “You’re pinning me to the ground.” 

“Damn straight,” Marinette smirks and leans down to kiss him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, which one was your favorite? Please let me know! :)


	27. p.s. thanks for the letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> write to me epilogue. 
> 
> also cross posted on the write to me. 
> 
> this is for everyone who enjoyed this au!

Adrien is fifteen when he finds his soulmate, a girl with blue eyes like the sky and hair darker than the night. Two things that are total opposites, but they frame her face perfectly as she stares down at him from where sits at her desk. 

_Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?_

Because on her hand, displayed for him to see is his words _miss you_ and her most beloved loopy monogram _M_. 

Time has stopped ticking, time has stopped moving and the whole world is being pulled away from under his feet because this girl is Ladybug. This girl is his soulmate.

And her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. 

 _It’s you_. 

She’s smiling and he wants to know how he has never seen it before, the stars that twinkle in her grin, the sky in her eyes that make him feel like he can fly. It’s like he’s dreaming, six years old and looking for his friend, but here she is and here he is and it’s….everything he ever wanted. 

The moment is filled with confirmation and potential and a promise of good things to follow. 

Because she’s right here. 

_She’s always been right here._

But the teacher’s voice sounds and time seizes forward, shoving him back into reality with blood rushing to his ear drums. The realization swirling in his head, the idea of being so close almost too much and he falls. Falls into the sleep in which her vision came, with her voice calling after him, like the dream where he first met her. 

_Will you be my friend?_

* * *

Adrien is fifteen years old when he wakes with a start, his heart thundering in his chest and all he sees is the white, white walls of the nurse’s room. The back of his head is pounding, throbbing, but all he can do is smile and flops on the bed.  

“I found her…”

Someone clears their throat and Adrien sits straight up again and sees Marinette blushing in the doorway. “Actually, I found you first…” She’s clutching the door frame, her cheeks pink as she hides one half of her body from his sight. “That’s why I was really weird for a while….”

He thinks of those weeks everything was rocky between them, her unanswered messages, her distance, her fear….it was only a taste of what he put her through a few years ago, but it still hurt. 

He swings his legs over the edge of the bed and pats the seat next to him. “How did you find out?” His words are caught in the waves of emotion, questioning with earnest, but afraid to hear the answer. 

She grins a bit, her smile slightly strained. It could be nervousness or newness, he thinks. He feels it too, but she walks over and sits beside him. 

(Though there is definitely more than few inches between them and he just really, really wants to hold her.)

The mattress sinks with her added weight, but her eyes, her hair, her face are all so crystal clear. It’s like his dreams are finally real, the words on his arms have manifested into a person to call his own and his heart filling to the brim with affection. 

Through the corner of her eye, she catches his apparent staring and coves her face with her hands, trying to conceal a blush. 

“Don’t stare so much…” she whines, her feet tapping on the floor with glee, embarrassment, everything in between.  

Adrien laughs and moves an inch or two farther away, a hand scratching the back of his neck. “I just…I’m the one who had the dream, you know…” he tells her honestly. “I dreamt of you first and I remember how badly I wanted to meet you and now–now you’re here.” 

Through the slit of her fingers, she looks at him, blue eyes like gems and happiness pouring out of the window of her soul. It’s his soul too and his soul is hers, forever bounded by something greater than what they are. Forever together by chance and strengthen by friendship. 

Shyly, she uncovers her eyes and with a delicate hand that he’s seen destroy evil and write loopy notes on his skin, her fingers brush against his. And he’s reminded of the day when he lent her his umbrella, that same gesture where they touched for the briefest of seconds and he was never happier. 

 _It’s you, it’s always been you_. 

Her fingers trail over his knuckles, swirling and looping until they reach her monogram. She taps it once, twice, thrice before she speaks. “My _M_  made it into an ad campaign,” she tells him. “The one where you’re holding that brand of coffee. I saw it on a billboard.”

That shocks him, the absurdity that that’s how she discovers who it is and by now all he can do is laugh, the tension of the moment cut cleaning away and giggles and chuckles and joys spill out of him. 

“That is the stupidest way to figure it out ever,” he tells her between gasps, between the shatter moments of the wishes he had of them finding each other romantically. 

She laughs too and bumps his shoulder. “It is slightly worst than writing on my forehead.” Marinette then flicks him them, teasing and full of fun and he rubs the place she hit. 

 _It’s you, it’s me, and we’re just meant to be_. 

She sighs and falls to lay on the back the bed. Adrien follows and his happy to find that both their hands wind up in the other’s. Together they stare at the ceiling and he’s reminded of all the times he’s done that while waiting for his soulmate’s reply. 

In the school nurse’s office, together they raised their joint hands to the sky, to the future, to things that have yet to come. There is magic between them, ties and ties that knot them together, weaving around their hands, weaving around their hearts.

_My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I’m your soulmate._

The world around them is becoming brighter, becoming more in focus as his heart, his soul, and his entire being start to realign. 

_I’m Adrien Agreste and I’m yours._

“I love you.” 


	28. when we fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> for krazy-ky-sta-hatter for winning third place in my 3,000 follower giveaway on tumblr. 
> 
> marichat. angry kiss.

His world is falling, falling, falling right before his eyes as Marinette slips from the banister ledge of the Grand Paris Hotel. It’s a simple slip, a clumsy slip as Marinette was just running seconds before from an akuma–and for some reason she thought it would be a great idea to get on the freaking barrier–but she falls nonetheless, tumbling over the railing. 

The words tear from his lips, a war cry yell ringing through the air as he runs in slow motion to catch her, to throw himself over the ledge like he’s done thousands of times before. He’s Chat Noir, _he can fly for he has black wings_. Black wings, fast wings, wings that hold up when he’s racing through Paris with Ladybug at his side. 

Marinette has no wings, none whatsoever. She’s human, he’s almost part god. And there is no way to hustle gravity into a sweet conversation where it doesn’t activate for once in it’s life. 

But she fell and he’s still running, those two seconds between him and the ledge of the building and she’s lost to him. He doesn’t stop moving, doesn’t stop his sprinting gait as he places one foot harshly on the rail and is about to springboard downwards into a dive to try and catch her. 

The momentum is there, crackling through his muscles as his legs bends and he’s about to jump when he hears _it._

_“Stop!”_

And like time has stopped, he looks down and doesn’t jump, his heart falling to his feet and rooting him to the concrete roof. 

He was right when he said that Marinette didn’t have wings that could carry her, because she’s still not flying, but that doesn’t mean she’s not living. For she is, she’s hanging on for dear life as her fingers dig with all their might. There is sweat at her brow, white knuckles clutching the rods of the railing and she hangs. 

She’s still bound to gravity, but he’s lucky she’s stubborn. 

Blue eyes roll with annoyance as she bites out, “A little help would be nice.” 

The world starts turning and in the next moment, he’s lifting her up, holding her, grabbing her in his hold and pressing her to chest. He feels like he can fly and it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s Chat Noir. 

“You’re alive,” he breathes, his breath shuddering out of him. 

He feels her mutely nod against him and he pulls back to remind himself that she’s here and he’s here. And when he does, he’s relieved and happy, but the fear that was sinking in the bottom of his stomach starts to redirect itself, red surging under his veins until it colors the edges of his vision. 

His hands part as the disconnect from the hold on her back and go to grab her face, force her to look at him as everything starts tumbling out. 

“How can you be stupid!” 

His thumbs are stroking the swells of her cheeks, his fingers buried in raven hair and all he can see his how his black gloved hands frame her face. “You’re just…such a _fucking_  idiot.” 

At his words, Marinette huffs and her blue eyes storm like the sea, like a hurricane and she opens her mouth with red words spilling out. “Well, sometimes I forget that I’m me!” 

And that baffles him and makes him click his tongue as he starts to scold, “You’re Marinette, how could you ever forget that?”  

There’s a huff and sigh and emotions rolling off her that he doesn’t quite understand, but her eyes take that look, one that seems too familiar and biting and everything filled with _determination_. Then there’s a kiss, rushed and forced when she stands on her tiptoes and he can feel how everything is changing in one brief moment. 

He doesn’t understand, doesn’t get how she’s at her limit, her breaking point with her lips bruising his with such intensity. And all he can see is red, red, red, red that he’s never seen her wear before. For Marinette is pink and soft and kind, but this is new, the way she clings to him for a second, her teeth biting his lips before she lets go. 

He tries to breathe, but he can’t. Neither Chat Noir or Adrien understand exactly what’s going on, but the way Marinette is holding herself now is rim rod straight and it looks like she has just made up her mind. Her eyes snap up at him and there’s a promise that if he moves, he won’t like the outcome. 

So he doesn’t. 

She doesn’t break eye contact, her eyes like blue fire that blaze his soul as she mumbles under her breath. Light shines bright, blasts with radiance and power as he witnesses the softest girl he’s ever met transform into the strongest woman he’s ever known. 

Her eyes are still crazed, still blue, still like fire as Ladybug stitches herself to life in front of him red and black threads. The world is tilting, his world is changing, his world is swirling all because he thought his world is falling. But his world is standing, standing tall and firm with a smile that is a cross between a smirk and a grin. 

“Sometimes I remember that I’m her too.”

And his world is falling all over again, but this time, it’s just a figurative thing. 


	29. and they are the stars they see

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2nd prize for my 3,000 follower giveaway on tumblr. adrinette/ladynoir. stargazing.

There is a breath–one expands all the air sacs in his lungs–and before he knows it, he is racing towards the sun, following the rays to new beginnings. Bright lights, warm lights kiss his skin, his hair, his face. 

 _This is my chance_ , he thinks, his heartbeat a rising staccato in his chest as it flutters while the air skims the edges of his suit. 

 _This is who I’m meant to be_ , he thinks again, the thought only a confirmation of the future he seeks, one where black leather, a ring, and a fairy are all that he needs.  And that is what his heart tells him, whispers deep from within when opportunity comes knocking in this glorious new day just for him.

And the sun is the only star he needs to follow he feels. It’s the only one that is close to the Earth and that has to be a sign. It has to mean something of great importance of why he is here now and why this is the path that he needs to go.

The sun is shining bright and Adrien has never felt brighter as he spreads his arm out wide to grab onto this thing called life, called living because that is what he’s going to do for now.

He’s going to be the sun, he’s going to heat the world with his bravery, his tenacity, his zeal. There will be nothing hallow, nothing barren now as he zooms through Paris because superheros don’t let the world down.

They make it flourish.

There’s a another breath as he falls, falls, falls and Adrien can’t help but smirk and feel invisible wings emerge from his back. The jut out and expand and let him ride on the air currents safely down to land. For the sky is his world now, this bright blue expanse. 

And as he goes to breathe again, taste the newness on his tongue of what is to come, air is knocked out of him, stolen from his lips, from his lungs. And for the first time since he’s become this new him, he realizes that he’s finally _seeing_ , finally looking instead of feeling. 

Green eyes, so green that they are electric, filled with wonderment and courage, blink and blink and blink because he’s positive he’s being blinded. For there is a girl, whose eyes are bluer than the sky, bluer than the sea, with hair as dark as night and stars shining in her smile. 

Real stars, little stars, stars that are millions of light years away that are contained in that tiny small, hesitant grin. He briefly looks up at the orb in the sky, brilliant and yellow and his eyes travel back to this girl’s smile. 

And this is when the sun becomes the dullest star when compared to the zillions he sees when she grins.

* * *

There is a heartbeat, the simple thump, thump, thumping in her chest as stands tall and glides. Glides easily with lies falling from her lips in the quietness of the secrets she never tells. Around her, she dances in the darkness, in the starlight and moonbeams that help separate who she is and who she’s not. 

Because this is who she really is, this girl named Marinette, with shoulders holding up the whole world because she has to do something right. And despite what people think, doing the right thing doesn’t mean it’s an easy thing, an innate thing–for it’s not. 

It’s hard work, built on patience and reminders in the dead of night that this is who she is and this is who she has to be to keep everyone safe. 

_Just a normal girl in a normal world, right?_

A girl with raven hair, the night combed in every lock.Thus, she does not leap and run and accept her fate immediately, but instead walks evenly, walks slowly to understand every single implication, every hidden meaning. And every rule there could possibility be to follow. 

Here she finds peace and here she finds the resolve to continue on to protect all those she holds dear to her very little heart that won’t stop beating in her chest until she’s dead. 

(Of course, being dead is not part of the plan).

But that does not mean she doesn’t thrive, doesn’t find home in the darkness because even the greatest shadows are crafted by the brightest lights.  For in this realm, in the one where she tells lies and makes up excuses to keep everyone at arm’s length, the sun still shines and lights her way. 

The glow is distant and far, covered by _what ifs_  and _this isn’t the time_ , but it’s there, beckoning her to come with lovely warmth. And even if her other is Ladybug–a brilliant shining solar star– _she’s_ still just Marinette and the shadows hold her wrists, her hands, her legs and warn her if she doesn’t do things quite right, bad things will soon follow.

However, that doesn’t take the sun away, doesn’t stop the longing deep in her chest as imagines her fingers playing with sunshine hair. For in his smile is the sun and in his laughter are it’s rays and she’s been blinded, been dazzled and amazed. 

Because to her, the sun will always, and continue to be, the brightest star.    

* * *

There is a moment, a standstill between them as they’re faced to watch their brightest star become a supernova before their very eyes. 

It’s all be chance, by happenstance explosion, but this is now and this is fate and all that rings in the air is _victory_. 

But winning only leaves a boy and a girl, no mask worn between them as the sky starts to melt and suns and stars and moon all dance into one. All the lights rain down to cast out the darkness.  

Words are left behind, trapped in throats and stopped by tongues. Green eyes find blue, wide eyes, wild eyes and all that is left in the middle is the crackle of the heavens splitting above. 

The fissure is colored pink, colored blue, colored reds, purples, and yellows as the sun finally warms the earth. The light reflects off the horizon, all too bright and all too dark.

“It’s you,” he breathes.. 

“It’s me,” she replies. 

And in this moment, in this breath, and this heartbeat, they are the only stars they see. 


	30. a sundry of things ii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> UM SO I HAVEN'T WRITTEN A PROPER DRABBLE IN A WHILE, BUT HERE ARE SOME MICRO STORIES.
> 
> let me which one you like!

**[marichat]**

**“You lied to me.”  
**

**“Just once.”**  

She says it so quietly, unable to meet his eye as her words echo in the hollow space to between them. 

But Chat Noir is refusing to step closer, to hold her, to be near her as his claws dig into his thighs and anger rolls off him like menacing shadows.

His voice is knife sharp. “I told you how much I was in love with Ladybug, how sincere I was about her–and then, then– _you.”_

Marinette swallows, her chin quivering as she lifts her heads, tears starting to gather. “I know, but you’re different with me…”

Green burns blue, water steams and Marientte can’t see again.

It’s lighting quick, the way he shouts. “ _You lied to me!_   _You made me fall for you when you were her and—”_

 _“–_ why can’t we just be honest with each other?” 

His question is small, like his body as he deflates and crouches down with his head between his knees. 

A quiet sob racks through her as she slides down against the wall, staring at the distance between her and Chat Noir, and she doesn’t know how to bridge the gap. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I’m sorry,” she says again. “I’m sorry,” and again. “I’m sorry,” and again and again and again again until she’s shouting and crying and the world has gone to shit. 

Chat Noir doesn’t say anything. 

“I’m–” she tries to start again, but stops when there is movement. 

He stands, his knees creaking and she can hear the sound of his heart breaking. “Just…stop talking, Marinette.” 

His words sink themselves into her soul, everything she didn’t know she wanted slipping between her fingers as she scrambles to get up because _this_ cannot be the end.

But it is.

He’s gone. 

* * *

**[ladrien]**

**“Teach me how to play?”**

And Adrien twirls, his fencing helmet clattering to the ground as Ladybug appears before him, eyes soft and a smile gracing her lips. 

“Though, perhaps play isn’t the right word,” she settles before taking a step forward. 

It takes a moment, but he finds the exact process how to speak again. “Um, well yes. Fencing is not child’s play.”

A smile buries in her cheek. “Because you do it?” 

“Because it’s dangerous.”

“Oh.” 

And then talking ceases between them and confusion swims and swirls around them, but Adrien finds the solution.

He hands his foil to her, find the courage to slink up beside her like he’s decked out in black leather. Laying his long fingers over her dainty ones, she helps her grab the handle.

He forgets how tall he is compared to her sometimes, but her shoulder is pressing into his chest and he can see clear over her head.

“Don’t grip it too tight or you’ll make your hand sore.”

Ladybug wiggles her fingers around it and tests the few positions before it’s comfortable. Looking up at him, she beams. “Thanks,” she says warmly. “Now to only get good enough to show Chat.” 

And somehow breath catches in his chest and by some act of god, he gives her a fencing a lesson.

While falling in love with her all over again.       
 

* * *

 

**[ladynoir]**

**"Just once."**

“Please, just kiss me once,” Ladybug asks again, the champagne coloring her cheeks a rosy pink. 

Chat Noir swallows, the champagne hitting him too as his heart thuds in his chest. 

 _All my dreams are coming true_.

But she’s looking at him with hungry eyes, lust dancing between them as she leans forward, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. 

It’s everything he’s ever wanted yet–

–he sighs and kisses the center of her forehead instead. 

With a gentle hand, he feathers away her bangs and kisses her nose. “Ask me again tomorrow, My Lady,” he whispers, holding her close. “And I’ll kiss you as many onces as you ever need.” 

Ladybug, drunk and sleepy sags in his arms, her words warming his neck. “Okay.” 

(She doesn’t really remember, but she kisses him in the morning anyway). 

 

 


	31. knowing is half the battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love Square up in here. Set right at the end of the Volpina episode when Ladybug leaves Adrien's room, the forehead touching through the door scene thing.

He thought he heard her leave, her steps hopping, skipping, and jumping out the window and he’s alone. 

He doesn’t know that the second that he slides the bathroom door open that Ladybug decided to swing herself back into his bedroom. 

He doesn’t know that the moment he lets go of his transformation that Ladybug lands softly on his carpet, her blue eyes blown wide as stares up at him. 

It’s Plagg that alerts him, the little god about to start teasing him when he doesn’t say anything at all. 

And that’s how Adrien finds himself exposed in front of the one person he loves most, her expression shifting too much to make any sense and she stammers–”I swear it was…it was an accident!”

Her hands fly to her eyes and she’s covering them. 

“I didn’t mean–oh god, I mean, _I meant_ –but this, but this!” And she’s babbling, crouching low to the ground, her breaths coming uneven the more she curls into herself. 

“…Ladybug?” he asks gently, taking a small step forward, both hands faced up and inviting. “It’s okay,” he offers.

She rips her hands from her eyes and they’re so big, so wide, so _open_  that he feels like he’s drowning. “This is everything from okay–you’re him and, and–he’s you!” 

He lowers his hands and frowns. “I’m just me.” 

“No, no you’re not,” and she finally slumps and lands on her butt. “I act the same, but you don’t act the same. Not one bit.” 

“I–” he starts because he wants to defend himself, but he knows she’s right. She’s usually right. Annoyingly enough. 

He settles instead. “I’m sorry…” 

A shoe hits him in the head instead. “Don’t be sorry, you idiot!” 

Frustration builds up in his sinuses so he pinches his nose. “Look, I don’t know what you want me to be.”

Ladybug’s eyes are watery when she speaks and she wipes away almost falling tears with the back of her hand. “Just be you, okay?” 

The distance between them is intense, stretching miles long when it’s only a few meters. But it’s easier to gather courage when he’s over here and she’s over there. “Can I just be with all of you too?” 

All the tension curls in her mouth for a moment, Ladybug knowing exactly what he means, but her eyes blaze blue and he knows that mean she’s determined. “Okay. Yeah.” 

And he’s reminded of the moment when he first fell in love with her, when she trusted him so easily and blossomed into such an unstoppable force. She looks like that again. 

She takes a deep breath, the room washing red and pink as Adrien steels himself about who is about to see.

 _Whoever that girl is behind the mask_ , he tells himself one more time, _I love her._

(And he does).  

* * *

 

Her name is Marinette. It means _the one who rises_ , _the sea_ , a big ocean wave ready to crash down and flood the world with her might. 

And the way Adrien says her name, a wispy breath makes her shiver in place because the sunlight has tangled itself in his hair and he looks beautiful.

“Marinette,” he says again, taking one step forward, then two, then three until she’s wrapped up in his embrace and he’s twirling her around. 

Her voice catches, but she laughs and hugs him back. “Uh, hi.” 

When he sets her down, her doesn’t stop touching her, his hands resting on her shoulders. His eyes are gems, glimmering and warm and–and–and–

“I love you,” he says, no fear in his voice, courage dripping from the seams instead. 

She opens and closes her mouth, but no sound comes out, but he continues. 

“I love a part of you at least,” he tells her and grins. “But I want to love all of you too.” 

Her eyes are watery again and she pulls him close. “You dumb cat, I love part of you too.” 

He stills, tension taunt in his back. “Which part?” 

She tips her head back and smiles, happy and she’s floating and–

“It doesn’t matter, it’s you.” 

 _It’s me and I love you_.

When he leas down and presses his forehead to hers, he breathes deep. “Yeah, okay. Me too.”

(And in the years to follow, they fall in love with every part of the other they see).   


	32. choices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a little enemies au. inspired off this awesome remix of stitches
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKdLFIQYDkc

There are choices, Adrien knows. There is “yes” and “no”, “this” and “that”, “good” and “bad”. They are choices–options one reacts when happenstance rears it’s ugly head and presents itself available. 

Like now, when Hawkmoth shows him a locket with his mother’s picture in it, dangling sweetly from a chain that he knows is his father’s most precious love token. 

“I’m doing this for us,” he says. “I’m going to bring your mother home.” 

There are choices, Adrien knows. 

And this is the one he chooses.

(He takes off the ring, you see, and presses the metal into his father’s palm, ignoring Plagg’s plea.)

* * *

His father creates him a black butterfly and Adrien grabs it with two hands because this is what he’s decided. It’s erratic in the way it flutters, but he captures and lays it over his heart. 

 _Make me who I’m supposed to be_ , he thinks. _Make me forget everything so I can move on_.

Black magic crawls down his veins, spreads from his heart into his blood, and dances up to where all his memories remain. It locks those of Plagg away first, sealing away all good deeds and holds them hostage. Erases every trace of being a superhero. 

Then it shreds every detail about his friends. Rips away Nino’s laughter, Ivan’s poor jokes, Kim’s awful dares. No more movie nights with Chloe, no silly jokes with Alya, no quiet moments with Marinette. Friends will only ruin his focus, remind him of the good he used to be and he can’t have that any longer. 

Chooses not to. 

Finally, the magics finds every loving image of Ladybug. The blue fire of her eyes, the starlight in her smiles, the night in her hair. Burns the red of her suit so she’s covered in flames instead of spots, distorts her name so he can’t say anymore, tears about everything at the seams because he doesn’t need her anymore. Twists everything about it so because–

He needs to move on. 

(And when his heart is suppressed and everything no longer hurts for the grief of saying _goodbye_ is gone, white materializes on his fingertips, up his back, over his eyes.

 _Your name is Chat Blanc_ , someone says. _This is who you’ve been all along.)_

* * *

“Well, well, well–what’s a little Ladybug doing alone at night?” he says. 

Anger simmers under his skin, her suit fire and his skin burned because he used to love that fire, but now–now, he can’t.

(He ignores the way his soul feels like a convergence of two rushing realities because there can only be one reality–the one he chose. There is no past any longer, just the future.) 

She turns slowly on her heel, her voice melodic as if she sings. “Finally decided to show up, you silly–”

He catches a sliver of her smile and it makes him ache in ways he can’t explain. There is nothing good about her, he knows. Can’t be because she’s the enemy and he’s–

(Well, he doesn’t really know–)

“–cat,” she says, but the word is a pushed out breath when she sees him, her eyes wide and mouth hanging.

Her smiles fall and there is familiarity in what he remembers because he and Ladybug have always been two opposing forces in this world. That’s what he knows and when she looks at him with disgust there is a peace because–because–that is this reality. 

“Where’s Chat Noir?” she demands, her hand ready to pitch her yo-yo.

And that name makes his head swim slightly, makes his chest feel tighter when chains become more secure because he can’t remember another reality because it isn’t supposed to exist. 

He quirks his head to the side. “Always been Chat Blanc, my dear.” 

She shakes her head, about to refute. “No–”

Black magic blazes under his skin, flaring up his heart, his soul and he leaps with claws out for the moon to witness. 

“Always been Chat Blanc, dear!” 

And this time, he aims to kill.


	33. in awe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in awe, the first time you realize it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE

he falls in love with her in a moment he sees her courage shining through her doubts. she’s fearless as she’s red and he falls in love with her in a split second, his heart belonging to as simply as that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. 

chat noir falls in love with ladybug because fate writes his story that way. 

hers was not as instant. 

for she falls in love with him in a slow way, in a way she never sees, in a narrative she doesn’t know that’s happening. 

he’s a constant, a friend, an extension of herself and she doesn’t realize when she says “i love you” she also means “i’m falling in love with you.” 

for her, love, is as normal as breathing and chat noir has been her breath since she became a superhero. his voice a beacon in the dark and pulls her away from her fears.

he makes her courageous, makes her lion. believes in her as she believes in him and– 

when she says “i love you” because she does, she loves him as much as she loves to sew, as much as feels breathless when swinging around the city, as much as she adores being a superhero, it takes her a thousand times to realize that each “i love you” is a tumbling step into “i’m falling in love with you” 

so the awe is in a quiet moment when they bump fists after defeating an akuma, an action they’ve done a thousand times.

“good job, LB!” he says, smirking with pride. 

ladybug grins too, about to say the same, but– 

–perhaps it’s the way illuminates his hair, golden strays charming instead of wild and maybe it’s the way his eyes glow like precious gems and his smile is dazzling like sunshine

and the affection in his voice seeps into her very cells because this person adores her, this person is always there for her, this person is her air

that it hits her in this moment, in one she’s done a thousand times that if he were to vanish, truly vanish, the red of her suit would go with him

half of her soul would go with him

her courage, her zeal, her pride would go with him

and she pulls him into a surprising hug, crushing him close because he’s her best friend and 

chat noir laughs into her hair, his clawed hands a warm pressure on her back.

“everything okay, bug?” 

she presses her face closer into his chest, squeezing him close. “just wanted to say that I love you.” 

his frame shakes with his laughter and he holds her close too. 

“love you too, bugaboo. love you too.” 

(she won’t tell him yet that she’s fallen; not yet, not yet, not yet, but one day, soon, she will when everything is a bit more solid.) 


	34. kitty kitty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ways to say "i love you": not said to me. ladrien.

Adrien isn’t sure how this exactly happened, but here he is at an animal shelter with Ladybug. As himself.

How in the world did he get so lucky with his school volunteer project?

Now, under normal situations, he’s learned how to be a cool and suave guy when LB is involved, but plain ol’ Adrien? Well, have you seen her smile? It’s better than a million bucks and he’s pretty sure that was the total sum of his stock portfolio last month.

Ladybug bops and weaves from puppies and kittens, dogs, and cats, before letting out a girlish squeal and pushing her face against a clear plastic cage. 

“Oh my goodness, don’t I just love you!” she happy squeaks. 

Snapping his attention back to the moment and trying not to be dweeb, he peeks over her shoulder to see a silky black cat blink lazily at her. It doesn’t escape him that said cat also has very deep green eyes. 

“Here kitty, kitty,” she coos as she opens up the cage.

“Meow.” 

Ladybug scoops the fat cat in her arms, much to the cat’s pleasure, before squeezing it. “Oh, I’m totally in love with you. I want to take you home!” 

Adrien chuckles quietly to himself before taking a step forward. “Like black cats, Ladybug?” 

She smiles fondly at the kitty before grinning wildly. “Well,” she starts with a laugh. “I might be quite bias, but black cats  _are_ my favorite.” 

He smirks and digs his hands into his pocket. “Oh? Got a certain Chat on your mind?”

Ladybug wrinkles her nose with delight. “Shhh, don’t tell him. If he knew, he’d never let me forget it!” she says. Giving a little sigh, she happily scratches the cat’s chin. “But yeah, I really do love Chat. He’s the best. Just like this little guy!” 

Adrien feels warm inside. His lady loves him! And thinks of him and–yeah, he’s kinda really in love with her. Like totally in love with her. 

Despite that he feels a flush coming, Adrien reaches out and pets the cat too. “Don’t worry, Ladybug, I won’t tell a soul.”

(Because the person who would want to know already knows.)


	35. over and over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 16\. To I say I love you over and over again, till it’s nothing but a senseless babble

it happens in a moment of quiet, when the world finally lets out a held breath, time shifting forward. it happens after the heat of battle, after the miraculous cure saves the day, after the moment the chat noir disappeared  _again_  after–after–after– 

ladybug grabs her partner’s face, curls her fingers into his cheeks and crushes his forehead against hers. “i love you, i love you, oh god–” she babbles. “please don’t–you were here–and then–” 

chat noir places his hands over hers, wraps his fingers around hers. his breath proof that he’s alive, his voice proof that he’s alive, his warmth proof that he’s here. 

alive

and here.

“hey, hey, look i’m–” 

ladybug shuts her eyes tight, refusing to look at him because tears are falling down her face. “you were here, and i love you, and then–” she stops to breathe because she needs to breathe and– 

“shh, shh, my lady, look at me.” 

ladybug shakes her head, finding herself sliding into the crook of his neck, her arms a vice around his neck. “please, no more, i love you, no more.” 

chat noir takes a deep breath and he squeezes her tight, the two not breathing, only sobbing as the rest of the world moves forward, as time moves forward and everyone else forgets.

“oh god, i’m sorry, i love you, i’m sorry, i love you.” 

(though who says it, doesn’t matter. it doesn’t matter, can’t matter. between the  _i love yous_  and the  _i’m sorrys_ , their world is only a slightly bit surer.

without the other– 

well, let’s not finish that thought. for where there is a ladybug, there is a chat noir and where there is a chat noir, a ladybug is sure to follow.)


	36. monster & me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> based on this monster marichat piece [by australet789 on tumblr](https://australet789.tumblr.com/post/167177891435/this-was-supposed-to-be-for-halloween-but-well)

Her fingers slide along a crimson thread between two worlds—a seam where monsters live in shadows and beauty is more than skin deep. There is magic in her sight, in the way her heart follows, in the way she feels his claws prick at her fingertips from his side of the veil. To most, she’s letting her fingers skim across a brick wall, but she knows that’s what they want you to think.

Because how can beauty and love and magic rest behind shadows that people can’t even see?

* * *

Marinette stumbles into a world of shadows when she is thirteen years old. It begins as a dream where she chases a red fairy who promises her good things. But dreams are gateways to new realities and this is how Marinette finds herself in a new place that glitters like gems in the moonlight, with promises left unsaid if she looks just right.

“Hello?” she calls, wondering.

The fogginess of her dream lifts and cold dirt chills her bare feet. The humid air warms her skin and breath becomes scarce because–

(humans can’t breathe the air here)

Her hands fly to her throat, her lungs screaming to breathe and she wants to comply but she was a stupid girl that led astray one night into a dream that’s now real and–

Heavy wings beat, a gust whisking her hair away from her face. Shadows drown the moon and illuminating jade eyes light dark.  

A white smile shines briefly as a clawed hand reaches out. She propels backward, fear running rampant through her veins because—because–

(this is a realm of monsters)

(monsters that look strangely like boys if she squints)

He whispers words she doesn’t know, but she feels them caress her cheeks and the air around her tuns sweet. It’s too dark to see him, but his hand finds her and he picks up, smoothing her clothes back into place, checking that everything was right as before.

Underneath a wing the red fairy appears, looking shy and meek.  She mumbles something Marinette doesn’t understand too, her heart foggy as she stumbles back into dreamland.

* * *

She wakes up remember nothing because humans don’t need magic the same way monsters do, but sometimes when she sleeps her heart dreams of handsome boys with green, green eyes.

Sometimes her soul dreams of a red fairy that calls to be her other half.

But the mind never remembers.

* * *

Autumn haze sunset fades away as Alya and Marinette walk under twinkling streetlamps. Their shadows dance along the walls and Marinette feels lonely for some reason.

She grabs her best friend’s hand, praying that her warmth will chase the dark away. “Do you…do think there’s magic in this world?”

Alya tilts her head to the side, russet locks gleaming like firelight. She hums a comforting, thoughtful sound. “I’m not sure, but I don’t see why we can’t believe in it.”

Alya’s words nestle deep into Marinette’s heart as she gazes at the shadows that want to invite her to dance.

Her fingertips brush along the brick, a hidden grin upon her lips.

* * *

Marinette stumbles into a world of shadows when she is fifteen, this time more deliberately  She comes across a turtle and a man sipping tea in the clearing she remembers from a scattered dream.

“Have you seen a winged boy who has bright green eyes?” she asks. “Or maybe a red fairy who can fit in the palm of my hand?”

The little turtle glances up, wisdom in his eyes glowing. “Follow the path you stitch, little seamstress. Who knows what you’ll come to find in the darkness.”

The old man laughs and points in a random direction. “Have fortitude, girl child—for right now, your heart is full of love.”

Marinette smiles unsurely and ignores the aching in her stomach as the unknown brushes against her very legs.

Marinette stumbles and stumbles and stumbles time again looking for a boy with black wings and gleaming jade eyes and a red fairy to call her own, but she can never find them.

* * *

It is when she is sixteen and walking home, her fingers trailing in the shadows that she feels the prick of something new, of a jolt of magic at her hand and–

It is only out of the corner of her eye, but she sees green eyes glow and she wishes so desperately that she can follow.

( _Come and find me_ , he says,  _please come do so_ )

* * *

At night before she falls asleep, she hopes that she can stumble once more if fate would be kind enough to let her.

* * *

Marinette is sixteen years old when she runs into a world of shadows, her heart open wide and her soul brimming with joy. The moon shines down with new beginnings and Marinette refuses to let anyone come between her and living.

A red fairy darts into her vision, guiding her to a familiar clearing she’s only been twice before as a child eager to find more.

“Follow the stars, Marinette, fly to them—to him.” the fairy sings, her body glistening like a ruby.

Marinette cups her in her hands. “But how will I do that?”

Tikki bubbles with laughter and zips to the sky, fairy dust raining around her. “Faith, trust, and a little pixie dust,” the little fairy sings.

(Marinette flies for the first time and it's—exhilaritng)

* * *

Marinette is sixteen when she wakes up and realizes that she doesn’t have fairy wings, but that doesn’t stop her from going back to the realm of monsters every time she dreams.

* * *

If she closes her eyes, she can follow the line her heart paves for her. It’s bright red tinging green and she just wants to fly and touch the stars to see him smile once more and that’s how Marinette finds herself in the shadows again, her heart sprung open and calling and calling and calling and–

Heavy wings beat and a glimmering smile made of moonbeams peeks from the darkness.

“It’s you,” she breathes, her pink and blue wings fluttering because—because–

“–you found me.”

Marinette flies him and finally sees that fur covers his face and whiskers sprout from his cheeks and ears sit atop his head and she grabs his face with two hands, her heart never fuller and says:

“You’re perfect.”

Marinette has stumbled across realities looking for a boy who gave her breath in her lungs when hers was stolen. She learns his name is Adrien and he’s a monster stuck in shadows who can never cross the world into hers. And sometimes when they’re lonely, they let their fingers touch at the junctions of their worlds because for a moment.

(it’s enough)

* * *

Love doesn’t make sense when you fall in love with a boy who gives away his every breath for you to breathe. Love doesn’t make sense when she’s with monsters and magic.

Love doesn’t make sense, but it exists in the seam of two worlds caught between hers and his.

A monster and a human caught in a dance of dreams and fairy tales and new beginnings. 


	37. symphony pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basorexia - An overwhelming desire to kiss//companion piece to chapter two ladynoir drabble. adrienette.

It is the suddenness of the moment that scares him, makes his heart beat fast and his tongue tied. It’s not the first time either when his eyes drift away from her and fall to gaze at her lips. Pretty and perfect, rounding out to a smile made of starlight and Adrien–Adrien–

“Adrien?” Marinette questions. “Are you even listening to me?” 

(no)

“Uh, y-yeah….?” 

She rolls her eyes, bluer than the sky and smiles wide. “Sure, of course, you were.” 

He swallows, his mouth dry and heart full. He never knew perfection could exist in a girl so small, but who shines so brightly and– 

(he takes a step forward, leaning closer)

Marinette stills and he can see the freckles in her eyes, the way icy blue mingles with the sky. She gingerly touches his arm and a jolt goes straight to his heart, giving him wings and he can

fly.

Like he does with Ladybug.

(he doesn’t realize this, but he’s leaned in even further, his mouth just inches from hers and Marinette is positive she’s died and gone to heaven. she stands on her tip toes, her fingers curling around his shirt.)

Like with Ladybug, who he loves and cherishes and loves and loves and loves and kissed her once without remembering and has dreamed of her since he met her, has loved her because of destiny. 

Adrien loves Ladybug, he repeats to himself. A mantra, a saying, something that is as easy as breathing and yet 

(why does it feel like he can’t breathe? like there is a lie in the truth and a truth in the lie?)

Adrien jerks away, automatically running a hand through his hair and glances away. The distance between them leaves him feeling cold. “I–I’m sorry, Marinette. I don’t know what got over me.”

He ignores the way her smile wobbles as her arms cross her chest and fingers drum an irregular beat. “Yeah, no. It’s fine,” she says. “You…you okay?” 

(he feels so cold. so, so, so cold.)

(she feels even colder.)

Lead drops into his stomach as looks at her, careful to gaze over her shoulder instead of her face. “Yep. Just…yeah. Thanks for being a good friend.”

Marinette smiles tight and nods her head. “Yeah, of course, any…time.” 

(the distance stretches miles between them, a moment that tries to come back, but doesn’t. can’t, can’t, can’t when Adrien loves Ladybug.)

 _if only he knew the whole truth._  

if only, if only


	38. reverse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> au where marinette is black cat, adrien is papillon, and gabe is red beetle

**the end**

 

It’s over, she knows. It’s over and that doesn’t mean it hurts any less.

Black Cat lays there, staring up at a sunset sky that doesn’t seem possible in this moment when her world is ending. Heart broken beneath broken ribs and blood pools at the back of her throat. The deafening steps of Red Beetle match the slowing pace of her heartbeat as he blocks the fading sunlight. The dying rays outline him momentarily with a halo of golden light before the shadows drape over him.

Black Cat wheezes. “You...his father—” but no matter how much she wanted to scream, she couldn’t, the blood slowly choking her.

Red Beetle’s mouth remains in an unimpressed line. “His death is never permanent.” He says it like it doesn’t matter as he leans down and lifts her hand. He presses a kiss to her bleeding knuckles, as if she’s a princess. “Sadly, yours won’t be either.” 

She spits a bit, wanting to bite him, but she stays there motionless. She hopes he can burn with all the hatred she has for him.

Red Beetle smirks, like a dignified treacherous king. “Now, thank you for this, little girl.”

Black Cat tries to curl her hand into a fist, keep hold of Plagg and the ring before the world ends, but she’s tired. The edges of her vision blurry, the breath in her lungs weighing her down. 

With a twist, she feels Plagg slowly slip away from her, the world bathed in green for one final moment and then—

 

**the middle**

 

They lost another fight, but it doesn’t matter in this moment. Adrien Agreste is Papillon and they’re no longer battered and bruised as they huddle in this warehouse together. 

She’s only seen pictures of him, a model sometimes hung up on billboards, but he’s more gorgeous in person. Gorgeous because he loves her, gorgeous because he supports her. Marinette is speechless and then and then and then— 

She throws her arms around him. “Oh wow, hi—” she cries. 

His grip around her is ironclad, they are all they have in this world—two renegades trying to stop an evil man.

Adrien’s breath is warm against her cheek. “I know.” 

She never wants to lose him again.

 

**the beginning**

 

One day, Marinette Dupain-Cheng becomes Black Cat because a mysterious ring ends up in her possession. One day a man named Red Beetle wants her dead. One day a boy named Papillon keeps her safe with his champions. 

She has chaos at her fingertips, but the world is out of order--everything reversed and backward, she’s told.

“Tikki,” Plagg says. “Tikki would never want to do this. Ladybugs don’t do this.”  

As she lays in bed that night, she wonders for what won’t be the first time, what it would be like if she could be Ladybug.

_ I just wish I could fix things.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have been toying with this idea for months so i just needed to write a bit about it before i do something else with it haha


End file.
